










.♦^-^^ 













^&'>^ 




II. 



,( .:D. V "1 /. A . C • r., l°> f']- J'ill . AT»^»iU TTt^ft i^m\p^ ny -na . &3 






Copyright 1920 
By 

AuBULANCE Co. 33 ASSOCIATION 



©CLA576218 
AUG 3U 1920 




n-.3\]bmillirg- La Tr mcEumor • for- Inc per U(^l of • ttic- iriencJa • et ■ tnc 

or Wo-p{-cxplanation-will-nol-bc-aTniOi5. . 
In-ib- mcipiency,- ttic-mqgazmc; if •wcmay-digmfjr-itky-lW-lillG , 
mo-mdc -oolch • jpr circuklion-among-tko-mcnibcrv^ • llicm^^clveo /and- tkc 
po;5>5ibili^-otpiipliiimQitwaoiiol-{or>5ccn. Tlicrclorc,- Siougli-pcrfccUy-art- 
b\^-qid-mlh-no-in(cn{ion-on4nc-part-pHnc-Giriinitlc^ 
Icwwc-m- m-'^aj,- muck- of- llic-matcrial • in-llic-koGk- 1^- ofan-cxtrcmcly- priyalc 
iialurc/ Wiich- migki • occasion' conoiclcrable • cmbarii3^i5ffl^^ 
noHO-mcntiGn-lk-cmgktcnca/ ir-a-foo 
volvccl-wcrc -fo -bc-in^iotcd • upon -by- pcroono • cxaminiin-tliiD book . 

Dula^-la -Irinc-DumGrrcli^ci^lca-of ab-numor,- wouH- Gut-Hcrocl -Doccac- 
cio • cxpurgaied, • li-wa^aliouglit • ihab inc- mo;?l • OTOiblc -itiodo • of- procedure 
wodd-be -to-pubk^k- inc- work- imb-cniircly/ leaving 4I ^ 
mcnl-of- Ikc-rcadcr^^-to-rGakzic-tkab ilicrc- 10 -no -malice -m- ike -booR-al 
all/ bubonly-an- appeal- {o-lkc-humor-of-ikc-men,-{o'kclp-lkcm-pa^.^- an 
idle • or • an • anxioui? • kour- during ■ -Ike • lime -wken • ikey- were • cnli^lcd -iri -ike 
ilrmy. 

We- ikcrefore- beg -ike- reader- lo -take' La -Trme-Dunior- for-wkdi-ii-ii?, 
nol • wcigking • ib • mcnb , bui • pardoning • lU • of fcn^JCi?, • and • rcmcmbcrm^, 



that: 



Ifc'drcn'i-no-llim-rcd- croc^,-nor-wcarcninQ-qackgudrd^? -ioo, 
Dui'i^inglc •men- m • barracks, ;mo.?i • rcmarkaDL-liKC -yoa ; 
An' if; ,5omctimc^ • our • conduck • loni ■ all -your • fancy ; painj^, 
Wky ; i^m^lc-mcri' m -barracko- don I -^ow- into ■ pla^^tcr • ^amxi^ . " 




Youro m OO 

Tb Otaff 



(^^^j6m^*«^^^ DditorLa IrincGo^ip 

Suuluoci. ^Uf!ut^. C/oniriDUior 

(j{jiA<yot ^. ^.^<^^, Ui^inc^^ Manager 



L/ditor inL^niei 
lyiLcrary L/aiior 
/Iri bdilor 
Art bailor 
Arl Ul 
ArlDJlc 

MDJilc 



tor 
:or 
Lor 








mm® 




B. St. Vitus Gxuna'er fxeoutlng his fanoas rhapsody, 
"Its the Wiggles not the "GIGG3JE3" eto." 



IS THIS THE Mm ? 

Sgt. Tracy- "Good morning, Captain. Tol son, do we need anything 
at the Q. M.'e to-day ? " 

Capt. Tolson - "Let me see, is 33 loaning a dance this week ? " 

gt. Tracy - " Yes sir, and "besides. Private Eemig needs a new 
erge suit. " 






5~ 




SCENE IN CAMP GREENE IN THE YEAH ?????? 
Pvt. Lloyd - "When do you think we are apt to move, Forrest ? •• 



6:45 AM, 


7:00 


n 


7:30 


II 


8:30 


II 


8:45 


n 


9:00 


n 



A EAED DAY'S WOKK FOE PRIVATE LOOMIS 
Hdvollle 

Mess (with Pvt. Wllke) 

Conference with Pvt. Wilke about coming dance 
Eecall from Conference 
First Call for Physical Drill 
Physical Drill 

(a) Printing Invitations 
Cb) Designing Candlesticks 
(c) Worrying 
10:45 " Eecall from Physical Drill 

11:00 " Eest Period (more worry) 

12:45 H. Mess (witl^ Pvt. Wilke) 

Afternoon --- Repeat morning's progrezn. 




Bow, gentle reader, is Sneath getting married, "ORE" 
l8 he merely coming from one of those "BOMIE" Satur- 
day night danoes ? 



A PROBLEIM IN PINAHCE 



Cost of Selwyn Dance 
Cost of Th^ Dansant 



#6.00 
1.00 



What did we get for that 



|5,00 ?????? 




Mim©^ ]^Mism®2r^ 



altered at the Post Office at Charlotte, N.C. as pretty purk oatter. 

EDITOR III CHIEF - A. Little Bull 

SOCIAL EDITOR - Choice of Gumaer, Eemig, ARTISTIC EDITOR - Anyone who 
ffiUce or Loomis can drawr something beeides fliee. 

VOL I. NO, I 

EDITORIAL 

A need being felt for soBoe means of recording the miainf oiasattjoa 
emanating frcm the Imagijaatlon of the members of "Diirty-thrae", three daring 
spirits privately have contrived to coq:^11& thle» the first atten^t at such a 
(voxk* 

"Biirty- three" Is tmique. !Qierofore, anything that is done by Its 
members is original. Review the histoiy of the Coiqpany since Batler, end 
this originality is apparent. ITever before in the annals of the U.S. Axmy 
has gadh a Coccpany been organized, and it devoutly is to be wished that never 
again will such a one be formed. Spoiled ciiila of many families, pet of the 
ladies of several cities, irresponsible, shameless, isi^ertuxbable "Ihlrty^ 
three", May the Gods some day give yoa sense, as the Devil has given you 
wit craftily to avoid all that does not please you of work and responsibility; 
and may that day find you rhere you belong - doing man's work on a man's job. 
You can do it, and you will. Meantime, you will let the social viilrl go on. 
Forget yourideal, fool yourself, cheat your Government, lie to your family and 
dance. Dance, daiice. Tes, dance while the dancing is good. But wmeober that, 
vtoen It is over and you regain your lost heads, the orchestra mast be paid. 
Pass U, ""* '^'" '^^''' ^" E^torlal. Here la La Trine Rumor * your paper. 

CTJETAIN 



SOME IMMORTAL PERASES 

"We have every aeairanca." 

"Hot Dog." 

"Now Men," 

"TShat'll I do ?" 

"Canteeeeeeeen le op"Qijnmmrmnnii." (Voice in the distance - "Ca»- 
teeeeeeeeeeen is closssesssssseed.") 

"Yoa dont know #iat pain Isi'" 

"Pass de brad." 

"Got any money to-day, Frank ?" 

"You'll have to see the Major." 

"I'd love to give you a pass hut Headquarters will not Btccid for it." 

"A. D." 




POSITIOH OP A SOLDIER 



Eyes front — chin well up - — 
hands by the side •> feet well 
on the groirnd — no talking 
when at attention. 



METZ'S "LADIES" 
with apologies to Eal. Kipling. 

I was a rookie at Batler, 

Timorous, diffident, prin; 
Aralsdlle Bloccaingdale s^t oe, 

(Aralselle'e Papa sold gin) 
Older than I; but so comley; 

Venus da Milo, as *twerd« 
But I didn't like "beer, so she said I vAa queer; 

And I learned about women from her. 



TOien I went up to Syracuse , 

•Long with A. C. Diirty- three, 
Sunday sdaool girl wanted soldiers 

Out at her hone to take tea. 
Hearby the dhurch was our meeting; 

(Lord; but I felt like a cur) 
I T?as left in the lurch as I stood at the dhurdi 

And I learned about women from her. 



ITest a young lady at Allezk- 

Town was so hbrribly roa^ ; 
She didn't epeak the saae langoage; 

Called all my sentljtient «guff ". 
Told me, "If you vas a feller, 

Se»9 as de odder vuns vere, 
You vould treat ni^ so nice; but you* re dhust coldt as Ice" 

And I learned about women from her. 



Charlotte, the (^xeen of tiie Southland, 

Treats me tiie same as the rest. 
Bat - I've diBcovered the trouble. 

I like old ladles the "beBt. 
They do not drag you to parties; 

Frolics they flatly condem. 
And they h&xk ^11 e I talk, when they talce me to walk, 

And I*m learning of women from t&em* 



PLEASE do not confiscate or destroy 
this nunSber, as you will have your cihance to 
get square, next tline* 




THE PEW LIZZARDS 



Theli7 favorite text - "Eat, drink and be 
meriy for to-morrow you got no hand-put(i" 



/ - 




The latest song hit, entitled, 
"THE OEEN PORT HOLE" 
by 

Pvts. Gilbert & Nlxdorff 



OUT^iiRD BOUND 

Now men, v.'ork ha,M and faithful. 

Spare neither muscle, sight nor t.dne, 

Aiid when vie get to Herritt, 

You'll Ret passes to go hone. 

That's v;hat the old boy told us 

Before we started North; 
But now we're on a British ship 

And kicking up the froth. 

At last we've left the homeland *s shore. 

And I will try to tell 
The way our gallant crew of lads 

Started on the good ship "HELL" 

Her name's the HORORA.TA 

Down Australia's sunny way; 

Our life aboard is fully that. 
With orders changing every day. 

We all now look like sandwich-men. 
Lugging life-preservers ro'-ind; 
And the decks come up to meet you 

'Till your head goes round and round. 

Wo live down near the bilge hold. 
And sleep in hammocks white; 

To try to stick inside of same 
Is like riding on a kite. 

We have nineteen inspections now 
. and sometimes sixty-three. 



I'd like to tell you \*iat they seek. 
But then I'd be A.D. 

They wash us with a fire hose 
Like a lot of lousey sheep; 

The M.P.'s chase you all day long 
In case you try to sleep. 

You cant hang things upon the wall. 
Or put them on the f loorj 

To smoke right after sunset 
Means punishment galore. 

Our' gallantlhero, ^'Smlty' Lan^" 

He met his doom to-day; 
He got his handsome face mussed up 

In a fisticuff affray. 

The order that we hear all day. 

Amidst the roar and din. 
Is, "Get down in the hold there, men. 

And put it in the bin.V 

Everything that we possess. 
From pack to corn-beef tins. 

Ease got to go down viiere we sleep. 
And be put in the bins. 

There's lots of ships around us. 
Steamers large and small; 

But if this boat gets sunk, by gosh. 
We'll get an awful fall. 



It must be twenty thousand leagues 

To the hottoia of the sea; 
But if the boys get over safe. 

We'll have an awful spree, 

I guess this is all there is to tell. 

Till we get to sunny France, 
Except by sailing on this tub, 

We took an awful chance. 

If we survive the fire-hose baths. 

And life among the bins, 
I hope the LoM will spare our lives 

And forgive us all our sins. 

And when the Christmas chimes ring out. 

Across the sea back home; 
I hope I'll be there with the folks. 

And never more I'll roam. 

So outward bound we sail away; 

A merry crew are wej 
put if its all the same to you. 

Its homeward bound we'd be, 

METZ TO PITZHUGH 

"Let me see, they call the front of the boat 
the stem, dont they ?" 




I,.ua.,.-^LL B-p-.r.A^ip 




AT TIIE BOXING BOUT 
D, Smith to Opponent - "Lets dont hit hard, my mouth hurts, 



SCENE:- Troopdeck of the Transport somewhere 

on the Atlantic. 

DESCOVERED, Private John Russell, conducting a personal 
tour of the ship, (His manner id nautical and his appearance 
bilious. 

"First we have the troop deck, v^here the men E^re quartered, 
in bins. Ascending through the booby hatch to the deck, we find our* 
selves contiguous to the after galley. The galley slaves are after 
chowj hence the name. 

"Up the companionway to the poop-deck, go called because 
the latrines are located here. Eeyond is the saloon deck, where the 
Officers mess, to the moaning of a chorus of Yo Hos and Heave Tos, 

"Chow-chow, the ship's cat, is toying v/ith a kippered 

starfish two points off the starboard bow " (and so on, until 

a tidal wave sweeps the deck, and catches' him abaft, the binnacle, 
washing him into the scuppers.) 



LA ♦ TRIME-'gUMOg 

/PL. I. EDITSRIAL JSIQ £. 

On the Atlantic, headed approximately Eastward, v/e are 
entering on another phase of the Company's existence. 

We are going to the War. Do you realize Trhat that- 
means? It means that Butler Is a myth, Syracuse a pleasant 
memory, Allentown a bad dream and Charlotte only an Incident, 
It means that the dancing Is finished and our personality Is 
lost. V/e have been thrown Into the ma-chine and we are nothing 
but a tiny part of the Great Game which is going to be played 
to the end without regard for our opinions or preferences. No 
matter what happens, from now on, 'the man who indulges In com- 
plaint or criticism is a quitter. He may not be one in the 
usual sense, buL if he is doing anything at all to obstruct the 
discipline of his Company, he Is obstructing the Government and 
retarding the Game, 

Play the Game, Play it fairly and squarely. Take 
your medicine as you get it and don't cry for sugar in the spoon. 
Prove that you have the guts to do dogs* work and to do it so 
that, when it is over, whether your reward be a place in a ditch 
in Flanders, or glory and honor and a safe hone-coming, the verdict 
of your fellows will be "They did it well". 

Thirty-three, it is up to you. Go to It, 











i 



-A'^-^' 



\ 



\/X/ 



.Xi.e|v.t]^.^j-l.£5.4.5.6.7.g9 



/ g— 



IK THE BIN 

When your C*0. comes around 

He will trail you like a hound 

Juat to see if you're oheying to the letter; 

He certainly will snatch you 

If his wary eye shoul^a catch you 

When you» thinking you know all things somewhat better. 

Place a hainnock in the aisle, 

Ot your blouse upon a pile. 

Thus shutting all the filthy, foul $,ir in; 

So you must put equipment 

For this overcrowded shipment 

In a tatally inadequate, v/ood bin,* 

For the bin, bin, bin 

IS the only place-uyou- have to put things. In. 

You may whine, or howl, or chatter; 
But it really doesn't matter. 
For you'll pack your little clatter 
In the bin. 

If you toss your pack out here 

And your coat and toilet gear. 

You will never, never- know what blighter's got it- 

But , if you deftly throw it 

In the bin, you'll always Imow it 

Is as safe as if a bally sub. had shot It. 

'Cause they'll walk on it and drag 

Everything from your kit bag 

And you needn't raise the deck off with your din. 

For the order is explicit 

And you surely cannot miss it 

If you puJB all "C Etjulpment 

In the Bla» 



In the bin, bin, bin 

Your sacredest possessions in the bin. 

When the fellow next you sickens 

You will bellow like the dickens 

As he staggers toward the hatchiyay 

And the Bin, 

When you mount the Golden Stairs 

While the latest trunpet blares 

And Saint Peter takes hig latch-key from the ring. 

You probably will hear him. 

As your fait 'ring footsteps near him. 

Murmur once ageiin the ditty that I sing, 

(For the final. Holy Show 

Will be not for you, you know. 

If you cannot get your C.O,* bars "en *fin") 

It won't do to get in line, 

Ke'll not ask ^ou in to dine. 

But just whisper, with a knowing little grin, 

"Bin, bin, bin; 
Lord; I haven't one to put this mortal in, 
'Bouti facei* Forward march to Hell there;" 

And you'll hear the Devil tell, there 

Isn't any place to put you,, 
Cept a Bin, 




The latest portrait 
of 

ISAIAH B. KOPWOOD 



ISN'T THIS BIGGIN' 'EM UP ? 
Someone had the nerve to say tha'C the life preser- 
vers were corking good affairs. 



H£ARD IN SYRACUSE OR CHARLOTTE 

"Red" Stephens - "Say Mets, where are you going to 
spend the weeK-end ?" 
Meta: - "Oh I have a choice of four beds down town." 




THE ORACLE 



(Gentile (first day aboard) "Say Franzie, where is the 

latrine ?" 
Franzie - "You'll find it up on the poop deck." 



"pep" Moore to Milsky, who is leaning over the rail 

feeding the fishes, 
"Cheer up, old man, everything will come out all right." 




^n 





Dop cJour, Mopsieur 




7-00 A-M. 



A SERGEANT 

"Ihe laslsMlliefirar 




so THIS IS PABIS 



Pvt. Woods — "TOiere Is Bobble Lyon ?•♦ 
Pvt. Maeon — "He's over eating at mesa." 
Pvt. Woods — "That's impose ible." 



^®CL*' Q 



mwuucDmu^VL 



Ki!IC5)«»S 



"Regulations for the Anny of the United States" 
Article on 
"Military Discipline* 

1. All persona in the military service are required to obey strictly and 
to execute promptly the lawful orders of their superiors. 

2« Military authority will be exercised with firmnees, kindness and jus- 
tice. Puniehnient must conform to law, and follow offenses as promptly as 
circumstances will permit. 

3» - - - Officers will keep in as dose touch as possible with the men 
under their command and will strive to build up such relations of confi- 
dence and sympathy as will insure the free approach of their men to them 
for counsel and assistanoe. This relationship may be gained and maintained 
without relaxation of the bonds of discipline and with great benefit to the 
service as a whole. 

4-. Courtesy among military men is indispensable to discipline; respect to 
superiors will not be confined to obedience to duty, but will be extended on 
all occasions. 



The foregoing is quoted verbatim from "Army Regulations". Huoidation 
on our part would be superfluous end presumptuous. But isn't it worth think- 
ing abeut ? 




"Oolj -la-la" 




l»± 



4; 







Zrxtt 



la [laikew doln^ a cW-a-ji^ 








3rd T<.oor«<* 



Huey — "I was just talking to a French lady." 
Sorg — "I did not know you could talk French." 
Huey ~ "I cant, we had an INTERPENTER" 



Sneath — (Trying to ask the French lady if she is tired ) 
"Madam, je suis fatigue??????? " 




Zie-ZAQ" 



MiVulski -- "How do you tell an officer ?" 
Scicahatano — "By his Sam Kohn belt." 

(Knock - knock - knock) 
Pvt. — "Come in." 

Voice outside — "Does Sgt. Dorgeval live here ?" 
Pvt. — "Yes, tring him in.? 



THE PURPOSE 

America sounded the bugle call. 

Enthusiasm ! Youth ! Adventure I came. 
We must not let our courage fall 

But end this great and glorious task. 

Out here secluded somewhere-in-trance 

Watching approaching eventful days - 
Days to be our country' a chance 

We wait to do our bit for Eight, 

It's quiet here} you d never guess 

That on beyond the wooded hills 
Is Hell itself - the world a mess 

Where man kills man in heated fury. 

Ah France ! You have shown the way. 

It is your spirit that inspires. 
It spurs our conscience on each, day 

To fight - that man be justly free. 

The world in future seasons 

Will know our service rendered. 
We had no selfish reasons 

But a purpose that will ever triumph, 

R.S.F. 

Private "A" - "What was the court martial on the square the other day ?" 
Private "B" - "Sergeant Betts reported Private Broughton." 
Private "A" - "Why ?" 
Private "A" •• "He wae drunk," 
Private "B" - "Who, Sergeant Betts f" 



Allen Meyer, the Only Original Human French Dictionary — he saye the French 
word for pint is "peente", (There aint no such a thing in France as a pint) 




"T" Y""!- [Jealtl; " 




L. 




Wee - wee - Mo nun? 



Headquarters — the Sight of the 
Gas Attack 
The Major to MlXald — "Sch ~ dont talk so loud, the Bosh will drop 

an oyster on you*** 



rrf 



\^_^^ ^— ^_ m'l 




t-^ 



II- 







Tlio "{■()" fwin^-HeevG aniMoij 



Qap^- +p ^3 — *'AI1 4Kose wko +h\nk ■fhey woofd rrviWe a be+fer 4op dergeont -fhort 
our (>nr$cn+ one , ihree paces Wrwarsi "^ 
"Comfcc^^y, hal+. * 



"R.A.» 

There are. scant ineorlbed traditions on your tiny muster roll. 

For you fight as did the Redskin in the West; 

And the only time you're mentioned is in counting battle's toll. 

When the Nation cheers your torn remains to rest* 

But a man who don't make virtue of each secret little fault. 

And whose gen'ral reputation is not good. 

Yet whose C* 0. always grumbles 'cause his Devils don't know "Haiti** 

Is as fine a fighting man as ever stood* 

The entire world is watching, as you enter in the fray. 

For your covmtry's reputation is at stake* 

All America is Judged by everything you do and say 

And by every littie error that you make. 

You must play the Great Game fairly -- act the Uan, and shun the Fool, 

You must purge your soul with fire emd the sword. 

For the man who shirks plain Duty is the Enemy's foul tool -- 

He is beating down the Buckler of the Lord* 

You will not receive the credit, when we've whipped the rabid Hun... 

For you've Just arrived in time for mopping up. 

And Its not polite to crow about the work you know you've done 

Though in doing It you smash the House of Krupp* 

For, from woe of devastated, looted homes you are secure. 

And from rapine 'mongst your daughters and your wives 

(But for France, their own salvation were by no means quite so sure) 

And the debt Is yours, though't cost a million lives* 

So, when fatal gas cloud thicken^^ or the dread bombardment roars, 

Or the naked steel goes groping for your guts. 

Though you spend your blood like water at the flood-gate's gaping doors 

And you're buried 'neath a million mud-walled huts; 

You'll be paying full redemption, at the topmost price you can. 

Just as potently as He, the Crucified, 

Though your Epitaph, you nameless, shameless, fameless R*A. manr 

Is the simple caption, "Line o' Ihity — Died*" 

Regular Army P«T* 




\k ^^\'^^a 



e$ 



Tlierer 16 a oofisistant rumor •tt)a+ S<^f Petcr»on 15 ovt j-or a ^ne -lyiQJorsKvjs 




T ^® 

Lneje ^ \e 4H 

jjowia — Tea, 



15 THia T-OVTr ? 
^ I© -Hae moH in ycf , George ? 
^ , mv love, /abscnf m'mdcdk) 




|m)Eni!9ip 



Vbl. 1, 



Z-j^xl^rlal 



K04. 



This issue of La Trine Rumor finds us at the war. We are rookies 
no longer;we have seen and are seeing action every day. One of us has 
been killed -- suddenly, horribly and after only a little service. One 
of our old mates has been wounded and we do not know hie fate. But we 
do know that when Jack Dean and Fred Arnott were hit, they were doing 
their full duty, and doing it right. They have shown the way — we fol- 
low* 

We have seen the wake of the fighting armies and we know how frail 
and futile a thing is man. We have seen the corpses of Ally and Hon, 
stinking and crawling in the sun. We have seen shattered villages, ru* 
ined farms, looted homes and destitute people; and the sights have been 
beneficial, albeit shocking, to our eyes. 

The true perspective, so much reviewed and so little heeded in those 
far off days at Butler, is dawning in all it8»8plendid significance, and 
though our job be hacking kindling. for a kitchen range, or lugging a lit- 
ter at the front lines and beyond, we are going to do that Job with every 
ounce of ehergy and determination that we possess. And we are going to 
be supremely happy when it is over and we review our work. 

Meantime, Thirty- three, your reputation for efficiency, snap;and 
judgement is waxing wider up and down the line* 



Keep it going. 




s\er) my children, 
shall hear 
idnt9hf ride 
1 Revere." 



""Te\s c>lway5 cr\-ihes'ickrefOr\' so he may lie in bed, 



more. 



JDajjv blows Ihe bu^le, me no+ej do sorely ^oar/ 
Vvtf- would appreciate «+, if he would pracfice 

^cnncH i& a nice yovn 3 ^aboo+ his \A/ork he blows, 

He vva&he^ dishes, crarts -theGhoi/v, ond ■+)T6n +0 bed he goes. 

-J>\ll. vBeH^ ijj^ocK d hi^h-brow,- in ^ivin^a command!^ 

When he feillcjcjboof "abenda^cJ " , how can we ondersfand ? 

Allen Uens . ju^l tooI< a •^r\n -fo ^e+ some brqnd new cans, 
He met a <jiVI and clayed oul jq+e, and weirl- behind the bQr5 



SOKEr MORE? IMKORTAL PHUASErS 



:ii' 



ow come 



I up Iha wllh 4hat lirie . 

Uerxjrf' 



T^c Kanl 

ow d'ya <^"i4 +Kai wjy ? 
ow*^ Trix ? 




" MAIL" 



BECOME 

A 
5TALLER 



ItARN BY THE 



MiJC MtTMOO 



Become on exper-t 
■HirouqVi Wis amoz- 
ing" e||or+5. There 15 
nolfiT^I'ke i-f METZ 
himself serrfon opfro- 
yoi l^eooi by obscr- 
vo4'on By on insioll- 
rnen-(s in advance 



IJBt-YOO-lNTROUBLE: 
MHOURWirtMUEIl 

>CA)inoi!riTtt- 



? 



HAVE. YOU ANY 
CHILDREN 
IN YOUR HOMt ? 



A5K. THE 

THtr KfMOVV 



IhcOlilfltiiiitiflllefcclikiljenc)' 
will Jond lis fllcrfrcpitscnpvc 

()yiclf-jic|'!roii6liion .licm}gfw 
ojprddcuiiniie^eco+cd. 

FMCTT 

One 001+ of onddr wear 
&o*jnd -fo 4icMe Voo 
5eci5onob(e Terms. 




hang around 

get in your way 
b«comt con^icuoo 
/el M' 



05 VOO 



en+er 






i?U55ELL- BR05-ORPMANA6E 

13 Rut DE. PlED PIPER 

HAMLIN 



FOI SkhZ 



otflis 



TMccn cmMy vin 
Tembfra-fc role 
Oee'c.'PWlile, any 

Time ajier da rl(. ll/((;m« 
\\it Y^ord — »ch 




The prcpo»+eroo? RODEF^ >3NrATU 
will 4'toch yoiJ by mail. 

^NtATVl hay essayed aoch roles as 'Tlie 
Con+eeo Lad", '^THe OffteCoy "and "The As- / 

eembly ^o<iper'. ,', 

Send (or illujirafiv'e calolodDe ?'«'* .-•'' .-I 

shoWm/ SNEftTH as "The Unsyc- ^V' x'' .••■ 



T hcLflbi Popular Bookb 

"m.-M-or-AEVoiVER" by 54«rn5 
-KOW-TO-S»ABOG1I' U^llonfmc 

"llOW-l-LEARN-YOi)-ENGlISHby)omiano 

"SHOOTING mr ty Hj^oJ 

PUBU5MEC BIT 

OIYllTh LANL COMPANY 

Mt POOUSHES EVtRVTl-UNG 



7 



FO« .SAL.B AT 



MAN6ER*5 ^rtOP 







iii^^M-c^K^:-) 





(i^^"l 12 (a ^^st 









l^es c:.~^»ai-\ 




'l^ 



lltv vl «^^ (A- 









""j.<<i;. 



/9wr iTTRue- 



// 



W//^/V yoj 6-;57- THERB BfifiL\j "H? ^/^r w PJE/iCe^f/ 



// 



"BIG SMITTY" on his first job of aide: 

"Captain, are they sitting down or standing up patients?" 



A. HOSPITAL DMCE EVERY NIGHT 

Three Romeos — Dorgeval, Butterworth and Ward, with canes, and 
bland but war- like expressions. 

Old nurse in wheel chair, asked by Ed Ward how she had enjoyed 
their dances, 

"Pine, thank you, will you please hand me my crutches?" 



Bobbie Lyons trying to make the Monsieur of the Cafe open the door 
after nine o'clock, 

"Permez la bouche, Monsieur." (Shut your mouth) 



Sergeant Pransioll, at Mureuil, during the gas attack, the air 
raid and shelling, looking for Tracy's billet, in a plaintive 
voice, 

"Frank, where are you ?" 

"Here, what do you want ?" 

"Per God's sake, is there room in there for me, they're 
raisin' hell out here." 




iL^ 



cz oo ♦<! ^sl c3 



THEY TELL ME THAT: 

Tom Dalton is running a close second to "Staitty" Lane. 

Eisenberg gave up short pants to come with the Army. 

Corporal Wade will aoon "be a Lieutenant in Aviation. He sure can 
go up in the air. 

They are running daily excursions to Neufohateau. Wine, women 
and song, and I cein't sing a note* 

Tony Ross is the author of, "Some Day that little Bug will get You.* 

Dan uewett wasnea his nee& last night* 

BQdle Xneoaua nas accepted the i^oetmastership of Brookside, H.J. He 
will assume his duties after the* war. 

Stahl is still living up to his name* 

This entry appeared on the Daily Sick Report: "Sick in (Quarters* 
2* Diagnosis:- Starvation, result of waiting for the mess whistle." 

Sergeant Johnston wants it thoroughly understood that his name must 
not appear in the RUMOR. 

"Spook" Parker says that putting A. C. #33 on hounds is like taking 
a postman for a walk* 

"Talkative" Garlock is still publishing news in loud volumes. 




\ irJ-jA^ i.^ > 






Xq. 'Drme J^mnor 



vou X E:D\~roF?i/M- no. 5 

The flr&t period of our active service is over. Let 
ue eit down and siim it up* 

First* consider the gains. We Have gained experience 
which Is of inestimable value. We have seen Life and Death, 
Heaven and Hell, worked out in tremendous reality before our 
eyes. . We have acquired a certain amount of wholesome respect 
for our fellows and an equal amount of contempt for the petty 
worries of our former life. We know hardship, and we have seen 
misery, stalking gaunt and deathly over a stricken land. We 
know also that modern miracle, of how Prance - impetuous, virile, 
nohle Prance, staggering under the weight of her awful burden, 
finds comfort in her all-embracing phrase, "C'est la Guere". 
This we have gained and cannot lose. 

Our losses? One comrade, killed in action and there- 
fore honored above all. Quantities of equipment, personal and 
otherwise. But, greater than these, we have lost our perspective. 
We have become little, peevish, whining men; complaining over 
short rations, squabbling over the choice of billets, cheating, 
dodging and laughing in the face of lawful authority. 

Lofty and memorable gains; shamefxil and terrible losses. 
Balance the two and let us shut our foul mouths and settle down 
to wipe out the damage we have done. 





'f~i^~' r=~tj^.^-r i\/iir>n_j-r'e- 



Tt-i^- rf»r°r<c:or>-4o rvii»*>ivnne- 







u^ 




■»— lEr w>=*C*t' ~Tt-\^z O'^l'VErF? 



SAM KOHIH - IY1ANA6ER_ 



iovii • nam 






1 -ro-D/vY I 
Monon rvqikolsky presents 

EDWARD eUMAE.^^ 



"JAZZ 'ErM UP" 

Thi9 piclore ^ows oor matinee 
idol ai h'.j best He doncti and 

gjzts and iazze» ond donfe;. 
r'j be 3orc io see -Hi w p'ieton> 




ITO- r--\0 »e.TgOVS^ I 

»f»cc.i,^». children's' Day 

WILD ANltVlAL5 \' 

HAVe KNOWM- 
Tut DOMIANO . 

^e +hij Wild creorlore of hij 
noon day mess. Hear hint 
roor "'51X0" as he plays 
wiih 4he bones 




I.WEC3NES PArf I 

John Uoyd presents the •Jmi'jhed ' 
"'FREDERICK WJl-KE. 

in 
" CONVICT 993 " 

ft lije-like picture a^a4ragic nigW 
after an «vAnincj oj-'goyety- Ciae 
ni"m in a (%ri/ cell .endurina the 
just Pvinishmertf of a auiHy man 
' WillU at tKe height <rf hu carreer- 
I -safs Chario-He Observer 



i 




L0U15 CORRADO 

in 

"LOUIE: DRIVES f\ 6-M.C'.' 

A smoshint f comedy in many 
porfs wi+h an one/pec+od end- 
ing/ showing f)i6 jomous bo<er*5 
I oqiU^y (rf ^Kt w^^etl. lie's a wKiz.^ 




E^ 



33 



V ihandsorne Heart -bntoker 

E)Rucc MAC wrtmritY 
TUL CLlN6inG VAIviPlRt 



I: 



* -fKe red liqhf cfijfrid o| 51 deiier 

' ' jollipfl in love vvifh ^he 
ken wwrZI no/ ji/mi Ha/ 



COV. 

hero 




1 



[COMINS 3ATUgpAY) 

^Paghct+i 5ch<ta+onio preaenij 

WM-UAM "5WE.tTiE" &ETT5 
.. . m 

A SON Of THt KtVOUJTlON 

(mis rAT««« RAW A WEIUCT-CO-WSJM^ 

;?e« Viim Of, -h, +t,e front- -to do 
hi* brV " in ■♦Ki* qreer+ wor 
r de 



Vor 



greert wor 



locracv. 



r 




\ _.S VJ M P /^ V 1 
Tery/ir-eRE.MCe CV».Y 
Edward Meyer pne3er>+5 

•'STICKS' McpHE^I^SON 
in 
TEN NIGHTS m f\ BAR-lct)OM 

Pn>j. New+on Cognac POorn?l| of 
ttie^W CTU. Will Uk kJwwn rei 
on " iVhji I otsfom ^rofn oil Mot icon+s 
PEPSJCOLA 5ERVEi) FREE 









LAST week 

AN ORDERLY oome down 

AHD brought 

QRcsas "mica said 

THAT we*d have 

TO ACT Just like 

VB USED to at 

CAIDP OBZZHZt 

SO QSI night at 

RBIRSAT.en cmnounoeaent 

WAS UAD3 that we 

WOULD HAVB to 

*COI£E to attention and 

SALVTS SMARTLY all oar a." 

LAST NIGHT Lieut. Stoddard 

TOLD US that he 

SALUTSD TWO tuok privates 



SZTTINO ZH the back of a 

STAFF CAR and they did 

NOT EVEN return it, but he 

SAYS HE has their 

NIMBER though. 

A COUH.B of nights 

AGO WE "passed In reriew" 

AND I oame near 

PASSINg out for 

LIEUT* ADAU8 gave 

US "EYES right* and 

WE ABE still 

IfAITINO for "front*. 

Z WISH he would soon say 

•FRONT" or I will get 

A KINK in the neck. 

I as ffluch obliged* 



No issue of the ^^ill^ woiald bec/Tompl^te without some mention of 

HOPWfiOD 





8eeTec^6e«*i9ts 



He will open this issue, ladies and gentlemen, with a recitation entitled, 

•'A little Ray of Sunahine from the Y.M.C*A.'* 
by Little Bobby Burns BroBra, the Inftint Phenomenon of Hoboken^Now Chersey* 



Tra — rahhhhhhhh 



1 1 r I I I I I 



iiidf^' 




^^f=^ 



SA-YINGS OP THE SAGES 



If arguments were military taotics, some stretcher bearers would be Generals. 

The Observer 

It has been wisely said that more than the Gernans shall be enanelpated at the 
end of the war» 

Sergeants' Review 

Some pseudo scientific men can fool the officers all the time^ the iragoners 
some of the time, the mechanics none of the time* 

General Opinion 

If lists of drivers and aides were snowf lakes, the company would have been 
snowed under long ago. 

The Pathfinder 

Tanks were so efficient in the recent offensive that the reserves in the con^ 
pany were not drawn up. 

War Cry 

It is said that after the horse -blankets for mules had been issued, one came, 
around at midnight heehawing for his. 

Horseless Age 

We wonder if the French women admire the frank disposition of the boys, more 
than the beys' disposition of their francs. 

Exchange 



HONEST JOHN SHERMAN ON GUARD 

Officer of the Day — "What time is it ?" 

H#J*S* — "I4i8t be between 'leven and three o'clock, sir, for that's the time 
I'm on guard. 




7THAT NEW 'cR/^2.£* II 



La Tiirae fto^oa 



Vol. X 



eOlTOltlAL 



/fo.6. 



It is said that Company Spirit in "Thirty-three" is on tho 
decline. This is untrue, of course. In order to prove this con- 
tention, let us first define Company spirit and then see if the facts 
agree with the definition* 

Company spirit is that quality of mind or disposition ■which 
makes a man think more of his company than of any other organization in 
the army« It makes him careful of his osm acts, considerate about the 
welfare of his comrades, readily subject to the discipline of his su- 
periors and dutiful in all things because it reflects on his Company if 
h© act otherwise. That, vre believe, is Company spirit. Now, about 
the spirit of Thirty-three. 

Do we sometimes wail for transfers on account of the rotten 
condition of our organization? Does it matter a whit to tis whether 
our bunkie has a meal in his stomach or a shirt on his back? Do wo 
obey orders with any semblance of celerity, or do we stop to argue 
about them. first? Are we careful to create, by our personal behavior, 
a good impression of our Company? Do we grab in the mess-line, orab, 
cheiit, crawl out of legitimate work, slander each othey, play cheap, 
petty, political tricks to further our mean little ends? Do we? 
Certainly not I Company spirit never was and never will be on the 
wane. Wars may come and spring and fall offensives nay change with 
the changing seasons, but Thirty-three, in spirit and in truth, goes 
on forever. Professor, please strike up "Unole Sammie".. 



£31 




fl?'^ 0/aig@ 



®??i^ 




THE DAY TKE HON-COMMS BEAT THE PVTS- 



Andy Diok — "Never mind, fellovrs, we oould beat them Trith our team and me umpiring*" 



A CONUiroRUM 



Why is Eddie Meyer going out of the cafe, like Baalam going out of Jerusalem? 
Becauae he went out on his a— » 




THIS rest ttuff 
IS the big}k» 
THEY said 
IS COULD rest 
BUI on order 
CAlffi, saying we bad 
TO wear 

GAS masks for tjro hoara 
STRAIGHT. 

Iff beezer Is now so 
SORB I cant blow 
IT. 

TOO ean't sing In 
A g»« aask« 
EDI I heard 

HOVABD ESiao elng when 
jLH&D aine «b« 



VB moved last |il^t 

ARD started to 

StEEB when we. heard 

RATS* 

CHE ohased his oate 

HIQET aorosq v^ faoe* 

I AU thaidcful 

SHE did notietop* 

I HAD to 0076 next 

DOOR «i aoooont 

OP the rain. 

WB Just got ih 

WHEN sonethlng went "BANG* 

ADD wa all ran down 

THE street 

TO the ahrie. 

THSBK. X: found^Iddi^ 



THEBADD stuok la 
THE doorway with two 
■ OTHER fellows* He 
SAID he had been 
THERE that way for two 
HOURS* It seeas 
STRANGE to BS he did 
NOT get in, with 
ALL' that praotioe he 
BAD in Bess-line* 
fBLt;'I pulled 
BIU out and 
GOT la ^srself • 
THEN reveillo 
BLEW and we 
BAD to e»t ti^ 
SOUS REST* 
I Alt UJCH OBLIGED* 

^1.0* 




^(^®Wg(^ €(B§m-^^m^s^s^g 




W>Hij^ 



fiO@«)f' 760g (^.^ 







^ 



'wi'iL^fe?'* 




.^ 












1?(H)g 'B'K^^^^ 6®(P 






iEiL_ 

Wott 
>^^^ Tk To Ua/ Vdur )|c^hbar to tie ilori 

7^^ 



<i=r7n 







-^^ 



7 



HELP WASTED 



Privates wmted ; condescending, first class 
and of the Buck, must bo willing, have tre- 
mendous patience and poor appetites. Willing 
to stand aside and let busy men sweep eihead* 
Apply to The Sergeant's Co*, 8 Mess Row, 
Goldfish St., Bullybeef, New Jersey. 



Salesman wanted to sell the latest popular 
eong-hit^"Take as nuoh as he do", sung with 
howling success by Booming Booning in three 
keys, Uilsl^, Lasky and Mikulski* 

Harry Vance Player Piano Co» 



Representative wanted ; to sell nerve tonic. 
Brazen and coliiosal oheek gained by drinking 
every last drop of this complex compound. 
Compounded by the nerve expert, Dr» P. ROY. 
Easy stuff to peddle on the road. NOT NERVE 
NOURISHMENT NERVES NEEDY NERVOUS NERVES. 
Trial bottle, 25 oentlnes. ROY'S READY RA- 
TIONS FOR YOUR GALL. Cheapest stuff on the 
market. 

ROY, tlio Nerve King. 



Private Secretary wanted : brunette preferred, 
to take dictation and to answer large corre- 
spondence from Charlotte. Must have good line 
of sweet stuff and be willing to work nights. 
Apply in person to 

"Walt" Mason, 
Toute Suite, 
Franoe. 



Wanted: 
be over< 


Someone 


to tell us 

A.E 


when 


the 


war 


will 



Wanted : Topics, rational or otherwise, but 
orabable. All suggestlcns sent to 

Wagcnless Wagoner Loomis 



LOST AND FOUND 

Lost : Ba4. eye-sight and bum left foot, between 
Ifoundldldnothavetowork Street and Idecldedto- 
singorplayball Avenue, I'eouperating Station, 
Cha teau-de- la-Fore t. 

Hcward Remig 



Found : Bad eye-eight and bum left foot, sud- 
denly between Ifoundlhadtowork Lane and Ido- 
cidedtostall Alley, At the Front, France* 

Howard Remig 



Lost: "in the shuffle, three cartons of Camel 
Cigarettes. Finder is known and if returned, 
no quBstions will be asked* 
Sgt* Gage 



A^VERTI SEMENTS 

Fire Aasuranoe : Do you want your house burned 
to ashes t If so, call out Fromer's Tannersville 
Hose Co. Guaranteed to save the ashes at any 
cost. LeRoy Tiger, the flaming fireman, whb 
saved St.Deeier from ruins, now on the force. 
You dont want a policy, do you ? 

Tennentiaum Water Wagon Co*, 
Garltok Street, 
Hardtobe gotten, 
U*S.A, 



TOTE f OB MB 



VOTE FOR MB 



VOTE FOR ME 

For 
the "RUMOR" Board 

"BULL" BETZ 
the man of letters 

If elected at the primaries, I will 
guarantee to "revolutioniae" the Mig- 
azine. 



VOTE FOR ME 



VOTE FOR ME 



VOTE FOR UE 






HASEVERTB0DYHERE3EEMMURPHYI 



■^^^ 



v.^<^A^ « /^ 




Si^^ 






V 









' "H^^sfef ^totoetn^ei? 



'<y 






'<X 




.-'^^ 







WHY (00) OIRLS' LCAWe OOMC: 





H0PU/OOD5 FIS^NG TRIP 








^ a <'N\v 







w 




/W>C ffi^ r ■ « 'I'y 



"WocriflMCysy BccntliPinQ^L- TncscVEPR?'! 



•a^MtmsB&M. 



ms^mm 





Too PRO^^ TO \<iPilT? 






V 'i 










^"M JaT ^ ^— -^ if 






Te)C: T-PReC: oe B TedTOTOLCR 




Tht YARAI^ Of A RCrO CQO^^ MAtV 



see- "8At4WAY «eco(?o* 



fcy 6«ucc MAcoooi{vriiev 



>l. \ rnNKLff! 







(T£MriL.E: O-BTS ^ CLOSE Sf/Avf?=— - 

Now OvOHT Tb Hfiflu H/A/) retl. iT) 



scats INTIRVIEWS WITH FAMOUS HEH 



HOOVIR has remarked that th« 
sense of humor of the cooks haa 
been keenly developed with rais- 
ins, trtaile their culinary art 
has been impaired by their hell- 
raisins. 



BEAU BRUMMEL, flfeile scanning the col- 
umns of LA VIS PARISIENNE, observed 
that Gumaer and Remig could extinguish 
rather definitely anyone with rich ex- 
clusiveness, while Parson Lloyd pass^.d 
his approval in silence. 



BERT WILLIAMS tiresomely com- 
mented that Bennet might believe 
that bracelets w»re rather Cing- 
alese, but they were really con- 
sidered rather singular. 



MONSIEUR MURPHY protested that 
Oacar Johnston's affllctibn and 
Wi lice's limp were not due to his 
establlsl^ent. 

VELVET JOE, while soliloquizing 
at length, said that Butterworth 
and Ward were s9§a emoking th^lr 
own butts. 



TROTZSKY confirmed the report that 
Peterson received his cracked head 
from the "uprising" of an indignant 
board floor. 



THE SECRETARY OF WAR sta%ad that 
Corporal ♦*Stai's and Stripes" Wade's 
aggressive announcement of his fit- 
ness for the vacant sergeancy will 
not be ignored since he cannot ru^ 
both mess-lines. 



ENRICO CARUSO remarked after the 
Mont Dore Minstrel to the "Poison 
I^ Quartette" that Silence was Qtol' 
di^« 



HMRD OIL ZH£ HI2CE 
One Replacement to another, — "I "sroxxder iftiy they put ae in the Flre-iAlosepxCT 

Replacement, looking at one of the piles of ammunition, — > Oob, gee I! Lootc. 
at the bullets." 




SCHiCy _ 5Ay, coRP.vjooDs, wilk you hoqk i^y cof)T Fo^ me- ? 
CPi- w— 'svn^LKi! "(Then tbk/vg- off Hts GLovesy BuT"sic" 

/ t _- ? '• ' ' 

WHY QonT sou Q>\JTTon II ■ 




SERGT. ROBERT M. CHENEY 



Courtesy of 
Smithfield, Record. '% Bingvi lie Bugle 



"Pick" Roasell to Walden, after the announcement of the water de- 
tail, 

"Thafe a good detail, Waldie, they can all speak English." 



Sgt. Johnston, on the hike, at the twenty-seventh kilometer, with 
tailboard dragging, 

"If I were only goosie, with someone behind me," 



Replacement to sergeant Peterson, ^^ 

"Do the regulations allow us to take off our shoes in our pup- 
tents ?" 

We have just received a letter from "Andy" and "Goopie" in which 
they claim they saw our gCod friend Crist "snooted" the other evening 
after he had come directly from one of his. famous temperence lectures. 



Milsky wants it officially announced that he has been recently grad- 
uated from the replacements. Please note. 



Booning, on the way to Mount Core, looking out of the train window,. 
"We're goin' through SORTIE, get out the map," 




WHEN "Hop" and I 
WERE In the Infirmary 
WITH la grippe, 
TRYING to keep 
WARM without 
A fire. 

"DOC" said we had 
GERMS "into us" that 
HE could kill by 
STARVATION, I think 
HE Wanted to drown 
TKEM for all we got 
WAS water, hat 
UtiYEE he wanted 
TD kill us 
FIRST', knowing that 
THEY could not live 
WITHOUT UB. I 
GUESS It did not 



WORK for "Hop" went to 

THE hospital that 

NIGHT and I 60t 

UP and went 

TO worK. We 

POOLED "Doc" that time. 

THE hext day the 

CO. told us we 

HAD the honor Of 

HIKING 190 kilos 

TO Germany with 

FUIIj packs — Bome honor. 

THE second day we 

STOPPED three hours 

TO watch a doughhoy 

MARCH by. 

THE fourth night the 

BI1LETLES8 Officer, 

SOT being able 



TO find us any 
NIGS stables In the 
EMPTY town, compiled 
WITH regulatlone 
B7. locating a nice 
OOZSY Bwaap "near mter* 
WHICH drained right 
UNDER oy tent. 
ANYHOW the mud was 
NICSTand soft. 
NOW that we are here 
WHAT gets me le 
ONE should not "fratep- 
NIZE with the C0Q> 
QUEI^D peoples", yet 
"COC" wants his 
"0490*6 station'* 
DANKS SCHOM, BtTTS. 

O.B.G, 




— TH6 BfiJtiN STO'RttBRS - 




Looks like Linde wae tryingN^ 
to run Wade a close secpndi on 
the uiwaB-line rush, 

./ / ^ #/ . 

Did you ever hecfe "Doc" Rlv©- 
ley "open up your bowels onto 
you", or laugh [you out^f a cold? 

/'/ k ^ " 

Who will t)e\^uri3wg|.fi^ow 
that Llnde Is a "two-strlpel*" 

\ \ 

Did you ever see the "Cognac 
Quartette'!^ put up a field stove' 
or bum beans ? Wouldn't they 
look fine on" the work end of a 
litter squ&d ?^^^,..„^ 

Ed Miller Is our second Wag- 
onless Wagoner. Who's next ? 



Di^ anybody [see "Dorgle" gettifig 
"Huffy" at Mont Dore ? \ \ 

Have you ever eeeiiNa certain S&r*- 
geant rush the lin^ for "seconds" 
before the rest of the outfit has 
had its "flE^ts" ? \i\Hll \ \ 

,: Ji \\ 

'Iirspltl^o f~W. Wate r boy Walden'a 
'attltude'^toward the mess line rush 

before coming back to 33, he was 
vseenVreeping up to the head of the 

line^\the other night under cover 
.of darkness, / / 

Ask the thirty- six men how they 
enjoyed the Manger- Milsky shower 
(less) baths. ^ 




1 



he <^ 






^iikoD 



'WnY®Kmi 



Dllgf o ^ ^ 



The War is over, HurrahJ Also, three CheersI Thirty-three 
has come through battle and murder and sudden death with honor and 
glory. But what a change has come upon Thirty- three I Casualties ? 
Afew; hut we never expected to come through unscathed, and though 
we are sorely touched with our loss, we are proud in the memory of 
those who died. 

The losses which oppress without compensation are those we have 
Buffered in these latter days. The "good of the service" has de- 
manded the removal of several of those who have been with us from 
the beginning; those vHao were staunch in the doubtful times at But- 
ler, Syracuse, Allentown and Charlotte, I-^ seems shameful that, af- 
ter a year of faithful service and good cameraderle, they should be 
cut off from us at the very end of the War. We cannot see the Jus- 
tice of it and we do not know the reason for it. But — 

Thirty- three, remnant of what we were, shattered and almost un- 
recognizable throiigh the inevitat>le process of the military machine, 
let us stick together. Let us remember that the C,0,'s and the rest 
tt the upper works are necessary. Let us also remember that back of 
them and above them all le the ideal for vrfiich we enlisted. Hang 
onj It is only for a short vrfi lie now, Doa't spoil the good work by 
weakening. And when we meei in camp, on the road, or afterwards, 
let us have the strong hand of fellowship always ready to grasp that 
of our blood- brother, our comrade in Thirty-throe, 









1^ ^ 01 C 




p/)|(r or- THE flOAJOR 



Kl^i it ^i&>^^% ^ Eiter t'i^^^ Mka 




tW veeQulp >(^ou 



anA (et \o\ji -march 



aiAcL >9.t Cor-n-wW/^ 




A4, gai/i/ it ^f®F^ '^ 



NftC H ■ TH ^ 




MrkSKI - eORNrM* 



DoLLflU A DA 



) 






strutter'^ 6/^i.L 



5H0CT rWAT 
LAST oKig 



THE JA^HE 0»^ 
COnPRC ? 




Ol^l^ oMf^ £^^i-^>Z^i- ^4i^fi4l£/f^^J^lJil^ljl^^f^^ 




THE TAIL-LIGHT 
The Corner Peculiar to the Mechanical Department 
Edited By A. Bumper. 




It is said that "Bud" Fromer has 
become a road sleuth. Neither A. 
Tarlde nor any on"e else can folio?/ 
him. 



"Guinny" PicoH struck luck Sunday 
*4ien he found a bath and some fe- 
male "B.V.D's': 

"Spook" Parker and "Ben" Prout 
have entered partnership selling 
newspapers. Price ten francs each. 

p., Fromer is reported to have 
strained himself reaching for the 
clutch of bis new a. E. C, 

Seen at a Cross Roads, The "heat- 
Absorber- twins',' huddled over a bon- 
fire.. Old "Si" Clark had fourteen 
blanketa ■wrapped around him while 
the sick man "a1" Betts had only one. 

Was "pumper" Hurrell out with the 
Dibble Dabble Club the oight he fell 
in the Ijrook. 



How to be an aid. Se sure to get 
eore feet. 



"Tommy" Thorapkins boasts of 
standing sixty hours guard in 
"NO-MANS-LAMD;' while his relief 
was hiking twenty-five kilome- 
ters 

Is the bq.ck seat of an amb- 
ulance comfortable? Ask "Eddie 
Gilbert. 

ROAD PATROL REPORT :-"Ed"Mll- 
ler and"Walt'.' Mason are strong 
on fancy driving. 

"Eddie" Meyer skidded into 
Germany so cleverly that he is 
now back on his carpenter job, 

WONDERS will never cease. 
"Bob" Lyon was seen coming out 
of a Cafe, Well he really had, 
to come out Bometlme. 



■Was the disease contracted 
oil the Argoixne Front by the 
Ambulance Drivers, yellow 
jaiondice. 

Hhy did Handville leave 
Septsarges in such a hurry? 






iMpTHiS i6 Hoir WE DO iTj 



taTC5T PUBLICflTISn?. 



IC®MP^ILBTI 



MmWE'S Ef MEn ©IP ILITTI 



''^ ^ 1^ ^ i?y ^ [^ Ira tm*^ 

iWJiClifel Iff Jl 

rqucV) \jr} Vijese lasl o^WJ^fe . — ^ 
The pr-idc of ihe Clar) , cil^s 



J 



:^i2:f=r p*uefise' 



I.y 



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L 

ll suitable piece jr) Tr)a-Tiy paj-te. — ..-' 
e ^eals oul.cloll^ei vciiV; all his rpi^l^ but <SJ>, 



K^ 



\ooj\er5 RMri WIL17 SIMPLY BMQ^ SMEW MC 
by 



t>loo<3-ibn'<sty ijupx o[ wild ai^iTijai (if eu . — ^ 



/HO 



by 






J 



A thrbbiT^ yel corkirig" piece of 
■^ blar)k1c{y blai^k verse . —a' 



n^w 



T 

1 






©I 



"^ 



:L I 



"V\feLldie" Walder? 



J^k ti]e Ail) ]\Wts>\op,i\]cy kf?ow ! 
These au] bora, by "tf^Gir'owi/ dram- 
atic per|orrnance& k^ow wl]ere- 
by Tpey wriiG. ^\]c> book, like tbc 
pl9\(en5,i^{or was) full of apirife 
wljicl; t)a5 an ir^foxica+iM wl}ijp( 
and oiror;^ breezy rjofc to ii. mc 
playens ro5oh diz^y heidhfo of Ineir 
6wn accorJ, ever? breakirolhe qccTri - 
fied &ud\pf]C6. Xne book "i5 pou^dto 
rrjdkod ^\i^ tbc5C finished arfi'&ts 



Maird Toiil \f) <a skillful sqcI pro- 



9^ 



J 



ypC ©OTOEI 



ic.oeyvs- 
wao ndA 

;Tr7705T 



Told ^raphicd.)ly,t>y; Twp prolifi 
.paper CQrno5Ponao";7te. /Anvpnc Wfi 
■oeeo af -The frpr/i- vyiH .cojoy 'to ttjc.u- 
Tpes>ean7u5iog inciderjteof/\rfT7y M( 

15 cer+amly tald by nne who knows. 
IlQrrEspniideti+ nUKRELL is -fo be con- 
g'rfltula'fed. 

*'5pace permi+fingiWE. always usehiss+uff " 

5Limmi+ Herald . 

by Pepnrher BRUCE MAC M/WnnZY 

In his-arlicle in-Hie RaWayT^ECDrtl \\b IeIIs 
nF W his aide i^ knoDked from ihe. ambulance 
by fl shell, he leaps from-lhE tar and ven^e- 
fully pulls the 5trinJ of a nearby B'" ^un 
flna inusly g'ets even wi1h the huns. 



C 



SPACE FOR SALE 



3 



Let loodc by 

Tfti; FOUR couat;!>, 

la COMPA/MY ST., 




Maseverybodyhereseenmurphy 




Remig is now happy; he expects 
to tour under his beloved standard, 
the Red Triangle, and at last his 
four talents are recognized — Play- 
ing — singing — acting — and fils 
charming personality. 

Did Tompkins ever show you the 
souvenirs he picked up while doing 
his famous "No-man's Land Crawl" ? 

When I saw Mac Whinney reading 
his- shirt the other day, I wondered 
whether he was picking "cooties" or 
bits of shrapnel. 

Jack Farley showed great stage 
presence the other eveijinK at the en- 
tertainment, Ta^ shoulden''t hej he 
used to "flop" griddle cakes in 
Child's. 

The Bolsheviki and his meat-hound 
have left for other parts, Ve miss the 

dog, 

Sori'y to hear "Doc" Riveley is 
ill. \Rhy doesn't he take "into himself" 
some of his own pills. 

It has been wondered if balden 
would have ever risen higher than a 
"touck" in the Company, 



Linde, not being able to get a 
cornet for the road show, nas of"* 
fered to entertain the boye by telL 
Itig experiences at the frc^t, Qiv- 
ing clever imitations of Mun planes 
dropping eggs, machine ei^'O'S "rat- 
tat-tating", shells whlstlelnt. For 
an encore he will read his diary. 
The kid's clever. 

It is rumored that Gage, the 
Canteen Lady, is expecting to give 
birth to a bar of chocolate next 
week, Nice work old dear, 

Hopwood is back. One would nev- 
er know It for he has' a bad throat, 
and cannot talk WCH, 

My adviee to the would-be 
"barn-stormers" is: "Better to be a 
big fish In a little pool than etc" 

Ask C, Patterson how his Court 
Ifartial came out after pompous Bill 
Betts looked it up in the Manual 
of Arms, 

Ray Williams' new nick-name is 
"Prof" and it does not m^ profes- 
sor either, 

. It has been remarked that the 
kitchen is the refuge for all bJro- 
ken-down. drivers, 

"Spook" Parker was pat on Dick 
Gege's detail on the hike for pun- 
ishment, KIKYABEATUT ? 




CW You t^f\HI\QE TO TPth€ f\ B^TH ? VtS JF YoO H^VE 



J)y special <a.rrarj^e- 
rr)Gr)i- - -taker? 

" PA)rU_C^5LY " 




I OONT WANT TO SEA HERo' 




A Dollar A Bay, 



CONFIDENTIAL GUIDff TO "RUMOR" THEATRES 

ESMBS OIXMPIC — Ralph Gentile in "UNDER COVER Best possible setting in 
dug-out for hero. 

OLD 84TH — Revival of OFFICER 606 — Talcott Kenworthy Oarlock with fair 
support, pvProbably will finish season, 

BALDWIN THEATRE — "SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE" by the C.O, Notice later. 

THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE — Petit Freddie Eisenberg in "SEV&ITEEN". Play well 
■^ast. Star natural. 

SEPTSAPvGES CEl^TRAL — "UNDER FiRs" with Arthur Linde as lead, been running 
fifteen veekB. Well acted, 

42MD — Montgomery Hopwood and Stone Lloyd in "CHIN CHL'J". Rapid-fire en- 
tertalruaent, Coatlnuoua show, 

LUTZERATH V.'INTER GARDEN -,- "R'OBINSON CRUSOE JR," "Friday" Zahrhart rooipa 

with large' bevy of beautiful Janes, 

TOMPKIiTS THEATRE — "OVER THE TOP" by Tompkins, Author-actor takes lead- 
ing roll too seriously. 

POST THDVTRE — "GRaHQ ABWy UaN". "Billy" Betta ras&es the most of a poor 
part. Pull criticism next week, 

niONT DORE CASINO ''.'THE GREAT LOVER", Foreign company headed by Harold 

Francis Dorgeval. Well received on tour, 

COLUMDIA BURLESQUE — "THE BRAT" gives "Eddie" Gilbert a chance to show 
his talent, 

"HOOSEGOW",CAMP GRfiENE — "T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS". Heavy team- 
work of Gage and Woods, Some scenes barred, 

UECJ^INGEN TOWN HALL — "A FOOE THERE WAS". Remig's plea to a German maiden. 
Highly amusing to ,audlen;ce. Bitter tragedy. 

JOHNSTON'S OPERA HCUSE — Closed for repairs, 

RECREATION HALL "SALVATION NELL" — Miss "Canteen" Gage struggles des- 
perately to dispense good cheer^ to d bored audience, 
Chaplin Williamson nrlll be given time between acts to 
jdo his franc - mark Juggling act (continued next page) 




WilliAM5 



"X 



v\ 



.u 




'P) 




/ 



X Do Hoi Mi/VD THE L/G^ OR 
A VEAI? o-R 56 wiTHouTA BaTH,3i^T 
WHEW TKiEWD 3UN)ClE CHAW6rC5 Hl\S 
iSocK^ ,ANI> THEN <JET5 HaU(tHTV ConCERwinG 
WV UA/<^/»/viTAKy CojVDiTicN— THEN BVeoP | 5ivtA7?. 



November 22, 1918, 
From J l3t Lieut, J.K.Adams 
Jo: 33rd Ambulance Company 
Subject: Farewell to Company 

It ic with the greatest regret and Borrow that I realize that you 
and I must part. I have been pasoed on by a board and ordered back to the 
U.S. It has been my misfortune to have had a severe attack of Influenza 
which has for the time belns knocked the props out from under me. 

After all, the war Is over and I can say with a clear conscience 
that as far as I know we did tvery thing we came over to do. It Is true that 
you are not bespattered with Crolx de Guerre medals. These medals are made 
In France and are for the French, You know and I know that no living being 
has ever taken ambulances nearer the front than you have, 

you know that there never was a man In the company, driver, aide 
or stretcher bearer that ever flinched yiien ordered to do hie <iuty» 

It is most unfortimate that two of the best of you lost their 
Uvea (Jolng their duty. You are not of my generation, and I doubt whether 
you fully take in how well you really have done and how proud I am to have 
been aesoclated^wlth you. 

I personally Joined the Company at the Invitation of Dr, lAwrence. 
I Joined the Company because I wanted to see the war from as near the front 
as possible. Had I it all to do over again I would rather be a- Lieutenant 
in the 33rd AmbuliUice Co. than a full OClonel In the S,O.S, 

4/.^ * At your head you have a most Ideal Commanding Officer and at his 
tei wfth^hiJ^r"^"* Palmer you have one of tJie ablest officers ever associa- 
Sy''i^Seife,^L^nfet y^i^wil/^^nSn^^T-g lf;J^i%'^^^r.ol^Tl.e 

John K. Adams 




A- .^VGGESTlON-rOP-PAUL-rROMER 




CHRISTIIAS Eve I had 

A great surprise . 

THE Y.M.C.A, 

OAVE me 

CHOCOLATE, 

A CIGAR (a good one), 

A pack of OBAKS 

AKI? a apple. 

EXCUSE me, the 

PED CROSS gave me> 

THAT apple. 

I suppose the 

"Y" will write 

IT up for the 

MAGAZINES and 

NDYSPAPERS for the 

FOIKS home. 

I don't blame them 



FOR It Is the 

FIRST thing 

THEY GAVE us since 

"The Old Man died", 

OH well, let's 

BE cheerful, 

SOAP Is Still at 

PAR and you can 

BUY the town for 

A cake of chocolate, 

ITS New Year's Eve 

AND time for a 

RESOLUTION. 

I never make 

ANY myself, 

BUT I would like to 

Sp; the Sergeants 

RESOLVE to cover 



IN file In 

THE mees line, and 

REFRAIN from 

APPEARING busy. 

I am going to bed now 

AND, as I fall 

OFF to sleep, 

I HEAR 

THE plaintlf voices of 

JOHN LLOYD and 

FRED "WILKE singing, 

"NEVER to rise again" 

AND 

"WHEN a man gets old". 

GUTE NACHT I III II 

I THANK YOU. 

0. B. G. 







'SECONDS' 



THE PCINCIPAU PAKT5 OF A CHKlSTriAS PINNEK 
enr EowAUP Rot-uut ■Jeatri -tmcb^ud jr 



"CAPOT ' 



5^ in, TsrItiI>^^ ^' 




vtnot-. 



"Vbl. I. 



£rditor-ial 



J^o. Q. 



This RUMOR starts another year; a new one, big with posaibllity , 
and full of the raeapry of what' has talcen place during the year Just ended. 

During 1918, we began, continued and ended our part in the Great 
War; and, to be perfectly truthful about it, we are glad that it is oVer, 
We have seen much more, of Life and Death, .Men and Women, than we had aeon 
before or ever shall see again. The experience has been good for us, in 
that it has taught us the ama-^JiesB and emptiness of modern conventional- 
ities. It has taught us to think more quickly, to act more shrewdly and 
to Judge more surely because we have been the Underdog, We haVe leajr'ne^ 
that certain peopl*, chosen from the ruck on account of some specific qual- 
ification, either apparent or otherwise, have been vested with authority 
to direct our activities dov/n to the last detail. We have learned to 
knuckle down; and, in learning this, we have llesure to think our own 
thoug/its unmolested and form definite conclusions as to w^y and wherefore. 

But we fancy that we have left our former selves back in the old 
civilian days, and that we have become rough and calloused and very, very 
bad. We flatter ourselves that yie can drink and swagger, boast and brag, 
and that when we get out of "this man's army" we shall have an accounting 
with the world in general. 

But to be absolutely honest with ourselves, we are not nearly bo 
I'otten as we think, We are Just ordinary people, llT?:lng ordinary lives. 
When we return, the draftlings will have received most of the honor and 
the credit, and for us of the Regular Army there will be very little left. 
This will hurt, but it will be instructive. 

Let us, therefore, now resolve, that, here and hereafter, we shall 
endeavor to conduct ourselves like men; patient, conslisierate and uncom- 
plaining, not T^ilnlng about delays orcldifflcultleB, but waiting hopefully 
for the day ^Ich shall see us, each with those he loves beet, telling then 
the tale of his voluntary "bit" in the WAR, And, really, it iilll bo worth 
all that it has cost,. 




LUTZERATH 



aiist to Guo Nelson: "Gee, Nela, you're looking bad these days, if yoia 
dont pick up pretty qoou yoxir people wont know you when you get home," 

Nelson: "By the time I geu. home my people will be so old that they will 
be too near-sighted to notice it," 

Kaiser, to "Doc" Riveley, who is reading his shirt for "cooties : 
"iShat Cher looking for Doc, got a cutie ?" 

Sgt. Peterson to Sgt, Betta at Ueokingen: 
"If anyone wants me I'll be in the Geschloasen.'' 



Guard to Civilian, "Halt, who goes there ?" 
Civilian: "Guten abend", 
Gu-ardr^'Paes guten abend". 



Guard: "Halt, who goes there"? 

Kaiser, also on gukrd, "Guard of the night," 



'TOiile the supply of toTiia:toes was so low ishat did Cook JohniQon do for 
tomatoes on the morning after the night before? 



Acting Corpol^al Sergeant Walden (posting guard at mldnignt) ; 
"SchhhWihl 1 1 1 Attention men, Headquarters mignt see you," 

Officer, reading Guard Rules to Class*, "and salute all officers and 
colojfs not Cased," 

Stahl; "Kov; does an officer look v/hen cased ?" (Isn't that stupid ?) 



COWFIDEiJTiAL GUID£ TO "RUMOR" THEATRES (continued from pro- 
ceeding page ) 

THE PRINCESS — "THE OLD LaDY SHOT.'S HER MEDaLS", Gives Ivison a chance to 
show many attractions. Crowded house, 

HEADQUARTERS PUY HOUSE — "BUSINESS BEFORE PLEASURE", A frantic, frenzied 

Fransloll's farcical pay-role, comedy. Not worth 
admission. 




CHRISTMAS MORNING IN A DUTCH BED* 




fc^^ft'l^'^^Wvfef.^ 



Tjiou ^halt not chuck "dae> mad 



CO "under ir)c chin cn- 

t opt fall ooto9 tl^c 



%f^^' 



oad. 



T};x)a 5bal+ not c^pt caucf bi 
accepTiO^ foodn^rDfT? the 
na+ivJ^s. (Tha^ard take 

Tljou ^bolt not covet tby oci^ 

borls wood; rjor h)is codtl, Qor 
b'sfowl, poranytl^i'p^^bat (3 
wi+>)i9 b's ifaies) ft>r -l:9e C. 
M.will ho!a bimiTuil+Ici^ 

19 va.ip. 



on 
lor- 



Ttaou sb?»^li: opt look , 
ihe .water w be o fjocl 
iQaicd or toy rest wil 
disturbed. 

Tbpu sbalt not pul tby 
■feitb ir) rurooro 

Tbpu shedt not' rcrQowcj^y 
outer qariTfenT on a f^ikc 
or turn up TTje collar 
1170 re of, for by -Vheowcar 
of itiy bnow-rtiu^T -fhou 

Tljou sbalt oot fratcrpize 

Tbou 5batt r?ot fail to sec 
Qay Williams iQ 1be eveot 
of "tbc previous. 



THE TAIL-LIGHT 
of the 

MECHANIGAL DEPARTMENT 
by 
A, BUMPER 



Is It possible to explain 
why Corporal Wade addresses his 
envelopes, "SOWier's 
Mail on Active Duty',"* 



"Eddie" Meyer is 
still driving — not 
cars, nails, ab per 
schedule. 

Ask Paul Fromer 
yttiS over-alls and ra- 
tions are the same to 
"Eddie" Thebaud. 

Sergeant lyons 
is at sea concertiing 
whether he or Gus Mc 
Qowan posaegses the 
worst war-time dispo- 
sitions. 



Our prize Wagon- 
less Wagoner, Loomis, 
the second, has been 
granted his request 
to succeed Wagoner Miller on the 
Water Wagon, 



PROM 

THE- 

TANNErRsviuurr 

T\Me2> RC:C0*2.0 



We understand that Manager "Grand- 
pop" Clark considers his "Gasoline 
Quartette" worthy of a 
Y.M,C.A. tour, "Grandpop" 
claims that his dialogue 
with "Bud" Promer, "Tiny 
Tim" is a wonder. 



RECEIPT OF HUN HELMET 



Mr. C. L. Wiltse was the rec- 
ipient of 8 Helmet from his 
nephew, Clarence 0. Fromer, 
who is in Trance with his Amb- 
ulance Company 33. This hel- 
met is said to have belonged to. 
and worn by, a German soldier. 
His name being indelibly written 
on the inside or hat band, name 
of H. Guenther. It weighs 2 3-4 
pounds and is made of steel. Mr. 
Wiltse is exhibiting it and points 
with pride to the fact of his be- 
ing the owoer of it 



The Charlotte Obser- 
ver states that Private 
Thomas Dal ton la a Ser- 
geant, Investigation pen- 
ding. 

Ballentlne wants to 
know if Sergeant Lyon will 
take hlTQ back in his de- 
partment for a bottle of 
schnaps, 

"Santa Claus"Betts,the 
Wagoner, sisrsianslyif sour'dn 
the world. No on© will lie- 
ten to his choicest rumors, 
while "Bud" Fromer gets 
away with murder. 



George feurnett has Incorporated 
the House-wrecking Association at Lutz- 
erath. He Jams door- Jams beautifully. 



The editors wish to be ad- 
vised if Merritt Benton Prout con- 
"r^v*M**r*?® Flourishing article on who said that "Rail Road" Hand- 

PronJfi ^o'^H ^t^'^ti^^^ ^^® ^* *^^ ^"1« «as stepping out to a real A.C. 
Front" to the W/ndham Journal. 33 mechanic. 



Pic oil and McGowan have refused 
to make any report on their "Lion- 
taming Act", 



A HAPPy NEW YEAR. 




UIWJT \\ 5TOP ThVNT 2>LeOM 



"WHAT THe 



PQ5T NS5 





HEW 

NtertatTJiDerit and smoker* *» 
<^ l^o<grd Tn*' 
I'' 'The Darktow?!^ Strutters Ball-' 
'2<''*3\c6t aWearuT) forvou.*o Splo" 
3" BowYi by; the "RLoQraTide* r»ecitattoT[)oo5'^ Lowe 
4^The DdT'ktoviTi 6tpiLtter6 3^lh ''The Jqzz BaU- 

S-^^Cu-te jLittfe Wlgg(e*o 5otiqo 
^^^ Cra. nga DcTi'*' recLtati-pno 
7<'*The l)arktovN Strutters Ball 
8"" H 5corchoro5o^« VloIlh 5oIo 
5" ^MoDe\^ The MooM shli^^s « 
10« What Did £ve gcve Adam for 



■Mo l^einriLg" 



«'F«Trac^ ° 
^The Jaz2 B^Tid- 
''Mo T?eTnniLg« 
^ (^u-artette «» 






* The Ddiz JBsTid 



La )« t«2 1 n fiTidiippf<ia«se 



mm. 




''^^i^:MlL^^^0^iiiiM:L^ 






WHEW fl«tt(>N/-J<>«)ok^-6V(»03t<f.C S£f«flTiO(Vj. 







HQ^i^ ACTIONS Btcofoe ORAypc-youR. l/waufl&r 
THC SflMg- AND ^ou DiFy TH 6 ScOOfg^^fWO $Cft<r?tH 




you 66T rr- rue co<jr-« >|ow ^u sioflrr ovt^ ho ^i^ngu o CA/^eASA - WH^^lf 



J\p <3dvcrxi3en7e9-l airi^s to sell somctrjiQg. Of course, our fornjcr ads. 
if? ti^esc colunji;^ of^reat value bavc ,i>ola you 09 tbc fact tbat'. 

Mever swerves frorij ttje tru+b 19 '^* gfudrafjteed products 

|la& wop t\je war by its depri.vd.t109 Won) ^or^or)^ 

|ja3 saved sjjoe leatljer, a. war producl, by Ijoldirjg oqIv ■twc9t«- five classes a week. 



l"inDC9Mli-Yti<-M?C-ffl[1-i"3[f(:il°MfflWm5-iD- 



7®m^wmis\ i^mf'-mmm, mrhmmis msmsnm 

IPII? Mt^l^fe W^iil^ IPHairilT-- "^"^^2^2^'^; cfe'^'^^ '^^ 

TpacVjcs you to &irg after di9r7cr sor)^ witV)out fear Jcdcljcr of pap^v Judljaua. 
Our rcaien buy vast ouaijlities of a9y old mIvo^ fjeap. ^revou tclli9$ t>)cn] your wcoKijts^'' ^a\ l}avtjfou lojeil £ 




EMPLOYEES released from Government work 

As headwaiters, captains, cooks (all kinds, pas- 
try, bake shop, etc.) 9 chambermedds, wait- 
resses, waiters, dumb-wsiiter operators, dish 
washers, and pot washers. 

Permanent positions. 

Apply immediately. 

Hotel Association of New Yorl( City 

CAMBRIDGE BUILDING, 33rd ST. and FIFTH AVE. 



HOURS FOR APPLICATION: 
Week days from 8.30 A. M. to 7.00 P. M. 
Sundays from 9.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. 





THE. Ger/ER/M."i Cifow-Poe. 



PORTCAITUCE OF- 




P^NGfc DftOlCAT&D TO TmB 



0E:E:K£R5 Of K/^OWLEPGE (?) 




THe QoMPMy T/^iiLof^. 



PICKED UP. BY THE CENSOR. 

Dear Uaw;- 

I see by the papers that things is otirrin all over the world for the impru-Tmimt of man 
bttt they alrvt got nothin on our compny, Jle tuk a sensua of all the dum gviys and sent them away 
so. Ti-e wood not get that way to. They went to franco to study but they dont no wiit its all about 
kaus the lessiuifi is all in frenoh and Hopwood, Ward, Fromer and Dubois is -VTorkin hard studeein 
but they tuk up a speshul korse in wine and wimen and singin to. As 1 sed befor far be it from U0 
to let those oollech fellas get ahead 6^ us so we got a post skool in our town and we got some 
good teechers to. A blacksmith is teechin shorthand and slite a hand a stage driver is teechin bl©- 
ness *nd our mathamatiks teeoher never figired anything exoep how many beens he cud get on a plato 
at tlie busy bee, TTe had a maskerade dance one nite and t,here was a lot of fellas there drest up 
just like fasts janes, but they wasent. They had sum y m c a girls there to but they was so yung 
and kittenish being between sixteen and 20 that we did not hav much fun with them. Well everythiatg 
went off fine until a guy can In with a lantern and a gun. He had a cuppel of tuff lukin sergents 
to perteckt him and he sed that all offisera was under arrest and had to go bak with him to mu 
hotel. Well i dont no wen they was let out but i herd thet they was all on bounds or fatig. Dont 
no "fiblr they put of fisers on fatig they cant do k p end thats the only kind of fatig thet 1 ever had 
Well the outkom of it was thet the man with the lantern got in a fite with our ohaplin and the chap: 
lin fainted away because the fella breathed in his face, they got a big investigashun on aboi^ the 
y m o a they want to find out if there was any y m e a people over here in franco or germaity. Sobb 
S8y they was seen here but they aint shure. One gv^ eed he got a pack a cigarets fer nuthin and 
thets why they got the investigashun goin on. Oiir barber went on a furlo to Italy he ia a mllyun- 
air down there bekos he hed 24 packs of cigarets 40 pecks a bull durm and 15 cakes a soap* Ke »11 
hope he had a good time. The other day evrybody got promoted to captens majors and kernels and 
wile «ne fellah was seleb ratin his promoshun on horse back the horse dumpt him off where the road 
was hard and he brok his arm. We are all sorry it was his arm. Well they wanted to give the en- 
listed men (there the guys what has to do there own work and every ohe elses to) sum promoshuns to 
so they woodent get jelus. So they made too corprals In our compny. Well there was nobody hangin 
round the offise to make corprals which is somethln like a genral so our capten lined our compny 
up and says i want too corprals and as it Is a -TkpyiianB job i dont like to appint anybody 1 w«nt 
too volantiers. \Nen i say march i want everybody to step too pases forard i»ho wants the job < Well 
he sed march and everybody stept forard exoep Sneath and Corrado. The capten said dont you too men 
went the job but they said it was to far to walk so' they got the jobs. Well i hav to stop 'noir for 
I got to go out and lei:n wich end Of a gun the bullets cum out of. We are the 33rd pioneers ttotr. 
Makln sharp shooters out of pill rollers aint no joke. Hopin you are the same i am 

your lovin sua 

Izzy Ferricht 

p B 1 forgot to say thet Ray flilliaais hit his nose the Qther day with his gun w©n he was $l o?HBln 
up to rite sholder arms. 




Tnc: i?i6hT Chu(?cn dut 




Cli<l/ "ftDlCi^M OD P/COi A 



aTrtne^mof 



VOL.1. 



EDITORIAL 



Kos.D-ll-l£, 



As th5s number of the RDMOR materializes, we hear that twenty-five 
per cent of the A. E. F. has gone home. Not so with the Annjrof OceupaUon; 
fo»,»though N.A. and M.O. may oorae and go, it seems evident that A.O. and Reg- 
ular Army are destined to -go on forever. 

Despite the prayers and supplications of our Mothers, Sisters, Wives 
nnd Sweethearts, we must remain. Ours is thevreary task of holding down the 
lid until ^natters are settled to the satisfaction of everybody concernod. It 
is dismal, heartbreaking, unsatisfactory work at best, and we do not like It 
at all, 

But it must be done beoeuse the United States, having taken its place 
in the line, may not now dodge any of the responsibility that goes with that 
place. The War is not over, and we are just as much on the line to-day as we 
were while in battle. We are under the eye of people who, until very recent- 

ly, were aa arrogant, ingenious, methodical race, whose insidious, hypooritioal 
double-dealing nearly wrecked the world, and who were more than anxious to eo- 
comodate all of us with a quick trip to Heaven or elsewhere. And they did 

not scruple about the neans to that end, ae we very well know who crossed the 
Atlantic in the Spring ^ 1918. 

Our part of Chateau-Thierry, St? Mihlel and in the Argonne was a post 
of honor; but our present position is more so. It requires all that is in 

us, of patriotism, devotion to duty, soundness of judgement and clear, sheer 
guts-, to perform our monotonous task with satisfaction to ourselves and to those 
who are responsible for our conduct. 

Let us do it right and, when our Mother, Sister, Wife or Sweetheart, 
(all adorable but absolutely Illogical creatures, we must confess) writes ua, 
ocnplaining of the injustice of it all, let ue grit the teeth, if need be, grip 
the more or less unwilling pen and tell her how glad we are to be eunong those 
fortunate enough to have been chosen for this unusual work and how proud she 
should be that Her Soldier is quietly, luiostentatiouftly and uneonplainingly 
keeping hie thankless Watch on the Rhine,- 

And while the Company as we used to know it at Butler dwindles down, 
always down, let us get closer together than ever before, not weighing trifles 
to be charged up and settled later, but meeting each other in clean, amiable feX* 
lowehip that is above all tho much and dirt of petty squabbles. 




TME: LAST COMPANY PORMATIO/S 



/^^A)ORlC6 H 







Fre.rJf Johnson now eaye he is no 
cook. He ftdnjitB it. No more SBlmon 
balls, thank (Jod. 

"Bobby" Lyon was eeen ffoing "ov- 
er the top the other night in the 
Wirtshaft. By tbs i»»y, how is it he 
dines with A.C. 28 so often. Is it 
possible that they serve liquids oth- 
er than coffee 7 

Looks like Kilsky is running Wil- 
liam Tell a close second. However, he 
uses an axe on Weber's head instead of 
the proverbial apple. 

Now that eyes, Vieart, rheumatism 
etc. are of no avail in obtaining the 
ever elusive discharge, Veyer has only] 
mental inabilities left to work on, 
provided that he can find his saw and 
hammer. 



Handville and Piooli tried to 
fold an !\pbulaiice arovind a tree. 
It is reported they suooeeded. 

Oh weil. Tommy, you only did 
what all the new wajoners do. Far- 
ley, its up to you to start cliftib- 
ing poles now. 

When the wlae fsils to do the 
\»ork. Join the Ether Sniffer's 
Club. It|S great dcpe. A.sk Erad- 
shaw, he Irnowe. 

George Burnett, oh wliat, oh what have 
you done ? 

Have you ever (kttended one of Wade s 
9 o'cloolt ftfSewblifip on the hill ? 




Its a nice feeling to have driven the 
old bus through all of the drives and nev- 
er niso a day, and then #$i):0 oh well 

never mind, maybe they'll take another »Mni 
and you will get your job back again. 

Wiat hoi Another wagonless wagoner t 
Mule skinin's a good job nevertheless. 

Its too bad noTT days that you have to 
get a letter fron the Pope to get anything 
out of the kitchen. Next thing you know . 
you'll have to show them your dirty clolhes 
to get soap. 

"Bob" Butterworth says that he is wiU- 
ing t6 do anything that other Non-coms do, 
but he 'ONT SHIHB SHOES. Officers note. 

Lieut. Hatch remarked the other night 
that GsTlock was speechless for the first 
time in his XJ.fe when he was caught by the 
.Officer of the Day. 
t-, 

f "Dob" Riveley says that ho Is willing 

to ^o back to the front rather than st^ 
in Lutzerath. We wonder just what he 
means by the front. 

Reeves to Gage\ — (in tt^ canteen) 
"One tooth paste, please.? 

Farley says its a wise ambtflanoa now 
days that knows its own motor. 

Officer to Mechanic "Fix, bayonet*' 

Mechanic to Officer — "Sir, I didn't 
]cncw it WIS broken." 



It is reported that Perry has been the 
gnat at the Infirmary so long that he is begin- 
ing to grow horns. 




Tooloose^ 6'A//Y^/?5/Ty 




OFP»cef< 



Bycic'' \ Wonder- ckxs ^e see rj 



THE LAMENT OF THE "Y" QUARTETTE. 

I'm Borry dear, so sorry dear. 

Sorry that 1 Joined the "Y". 
'Like to forget — sticks to me yet. 

(Probably will till I die.) 
Oh what a moss I Tour S. 0. S. ? 

Wo never got to Bullay. 
Three shows a day! I thought I'd die I 

I'm sorry I joined the "y". 



JOE'S GIRL 
(With apologies to Joe) 

Joe's girl is tall and slender, 

Ky girl is fat and low. 
Joe's girl wears silks and satins. 

My girl wears calico. 
Joe's girl is fast and speedy. 

My girl is pure end good. 
Do you tbiiTlc I'd change my girl for Joe's 

You know damned well I would I 



MIKE GROSS PADDER'S OHR. 
(Translation) 

Mine gross Fadder's Uhr 

Yetzt bleibs in der brett, 
Nach stehf 90 yars an der flur. 

let was grosser wie halb 
Dann der olt mann ihjn selbst, 

Und gewicht nicht eln pfennig weight raehr, 
Es was kauft an der Morn 

Von der tag wann es was born 
Ond was immer ihm steht fein flott. 

Und es steht — still, 
Ninmer zu geht nicht mehr, 

Wann der alt Mann tote, ? 



UTEST BOOKS FOR APRIL. 
"Oiless Bearings in a G.M.C." or "The Story of the Cranky Urank Case" by Lester Tompkins 
"From Bank Clerk to Mule Skinner" or "The Wail of a Fallen Wagoner" by Clarence Fromer. 
"John Barleycorn's Pal" or The Battle of Vin Blano" by Sgt. Lyon. 
Franzloli's New Joke" or "What Outfit Buddie 7" by Frenzy himself. 
"West Point as I saw It" iy "Little Bobby" Brown, the Martyr of the Investigation. 
"Teaching School in the Ozark Mountains" by Proffessor Harry Woods. 




SOME or IT3 ADVAr<TAGE3 ARE 

BROWN eODY - "RED- T1RE3 - ElStNBeRG MAGNETO 
EXTRA SUPPLY GAOE - TOMPKIN'6 Burnt BAHfilNOS-. 
WOULD TAKE A MA&ON TO ADJUST THEM 

Like thc'VlflCWoLYON cade W.II WADtlbrou^b a MAPiri dow9 
iQf-o -Hto VV00D5 di\ond +hc BROOKblDt into %c MEYEJi without 
shifiind fron? LOWe You woot have to PHIL UP either. You 
rpav rary vour BCTT5 on it despite the RAHWAY of treat ind it. 
Tlbu^ncv'cn,hz5v-e to MEND HAM So vou need not wvorrv about "me^ 
&1LU. Could you ask MOORE. ?foorE.RNE:5T opinion (6 ns^uested. 



OUR FAVOCITE MOOtU 15 

8UT YOU MAY TAKE YOUR PICK 
TO COMMIT fiXX. UP JT5 A"TO^(Y" CflC WlTrt MERKITT 



WARD I) GQW AGtNCY 



PATieRSO/^ , N. J. 



PkeA»e MENTioi* lA-njiNe eunoie when answesuw tmi* APveaTiseMenr. 




(^^c^v or OCCUPATION 




" rlflr-BouLE"- 




HOW ' <^oT ■frt'^T CEKMA'V 
pisroc , < Paid i5o FUM^ti^ 



iMir r-W M r^'UPn III If "" ,/""lK' Mnd\ 




f\ PHASE OF THE QrHthT WAR VTKX SfLponr* mt/vTioNcOc 
o IN HOME Circles o 




ihre wfas/Kan Meyer 
ma mlonG mn 



Jermn ma. 



m ammcc 
jmiiphacli lie Ue 
m moif loij hi cW-Je-^o&rro. 
I idd mm he >v4J coraien 

M fiorcriatendx'Coal- 
m iKZ were lie f^oLs 

llcici worn ire> oars. 



Mm woi Bri/y'L 



1 cum nm now 

Jle*?/d ij looted 50 nice on hi^ sleeve 
Ai'iycpcflJuT f 
And fc 1 sdw 

Criis W«l, 

Kllinalo ftW 

iuiiuj me mv Touiel/ Iya joap in m ayej. 

If i miedp m il'Ar 
iooi^er mod ii^ y^us-cifcs. 



01 E-JJ,. ? 

'm hs ni^ s\}\\ o\ ewes 

h] a vaf\\c . 

i)mf( M> h>\acli brali, 
met W Idjitk, 
i\d\a Airf, 

i lie ii^W lYSi ioi mvJ[ 

1* 



fl /froflrt- 



i Tiiaf/c you. 




''S?Ef\htNCr rHENCti 
''f\T THE 



f\FUW 3 

U/ViVERSiTr- 



MONTHS* 




LE5T w£ f-omn 

DSNT 3UVPKE*.- 3H£'S HAKMLBaS 




oBifiHe w£ qoT TO Ftitinc^' 




oQ-nhTivisTioiv Day t\j- , 



!^^^^^^^^^5^^^^^f^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^S^^^^^^^^?5^§^^^^p???^^i^53^^^^^^S^^^p^?^^ 







ss^^^^^sa^i^^;^^^^^ 



^^g^^^^^-^^^^^^^&v^ 



r>;'-y^ 



^.y.-: :^-^^;r:|isg)<,:i^Ml 



'-" '" " ■ ■ ■■...■Tn'l 



Thirty-three, as we knew it, is no more. Nothing is left of it except the 
memory of what we have seen and done together. But what a fund of memory it is! 
What a host of names and faces, incidents and places the mere thought of the 
Company recalls. 

However, the keen edge of memory ia dulled by contact with the ordinary 
things of life, to which we are now returned. Each one of us must get on to 
the scheme of things; many of us will find new scenes and faces which will com- 
pensate for the old; most of us will experience the love of V^oman, which kills 
all other rememhrance; and a few, only a very few, will retain the full depth of 
fellow feeling which has been ours for the past two years. All this is as it 
should be* 

But no matter what the exigencies of the future, let us see to it that that 
spirit, which made ours "the best Ambulance Company in the best Division of the 
finest Army in the world", is not allowed to flicker out like the sinking fires 
of patriotic zeal which are so pitiful to-day in comparison with their glories 
of a year ago. Let us, rather, guarantee by our thoughts and actions that Thirty- 
three, among ourselves, never shall die; and that, as long as we have minde and 
hearts, both shall be open always to the call of the fellows in our Company, and 
we shall be ever alert to demonstrate our fidelity to the old ideal. 



""^X 

^N^^ 




l-uuch IS J^einc Set^vc^, 



OiU^i^ 



MS 




(ioui I knew h ow Qlumhus £sli in 1492 




rvE^ w/js /»Aor«^ 'pep- ^-r ov>e 5«/v,-v,/t /?€,/v/o/v - 




■^j5*J\'1*av , 



IHevfe*- 4U Vik^lhe VY**»cal Corp5 




o TH/iT FiRSr f^E/\L f)T HO/vi£o 

o 2)£5c^/B^^CJ So/v\f '^laH oa/£s«> 




WELCOME TO OUR HEROES. 




MEMORIES!! 







Bi>Tck 



I' 






^ 



f 

Hops 



- IS — 



4^ f iriV4ay oA i^^ ihi Avmv 




IT 5(//?€ K/'^ 9 TOO $vy .>.' 




CMA9. C VvfB.ieHT/ •>R- 



3CH00L-D/y>3 atid HARK' HAKK'TTIE'LARK I sun^ will wiU Jcvolion V 
5ardslqy,Pbul, Wand Adie. Playful pranks played prciiil/. A two sided record. 
^A^^y»QVER yodclcd by Bulch Adania m a aim.i^i forward erect manner. 
The audience is sure io MI for it. Accompanied by shriekin^lycacplosive jatz music. 
LIBERTY (?)' E)ELLE\3 "a wedding mardi hummed \y thelollcwing birds: 
Kcady Stephens, Dr. Pill Belts, Chick Meyer, Disrtarous Gentile, TalUcss Gar lock, 
fill Roy, Artful Lmdc^ Eranc Doye, Generalissimo l/V^tcrancJ Martini Crist. 
WOPK-FOR °THL° NIGHT- IS^COMNO- cliantcd m a soolKii^ vay by Dor^cval 
gOCK£D-IN°THBCKADL&'Or°Tt-E'DEEP - It smacks of salt nevery- 
tkmgi sun^ in a flat manner by T)ig Omitty. 

THDOLP'QPEN° BUCKET °THAT° FELL - IN-THE-WELL recited by 
Fitzhugh m l^rokcn Cn^liah. "Memories of a voice froni the dccp-Lulzcrath Joumal-aportir^ c^i. 
IVE''GQT'My"CAFTAIN«WOPKINe-FQR'ME,<'NOW smig by Bill I^- 
rcncc. We have arery assurance hcwiU get away v\rilh it. 
^OLPIER5 FAPE\A/E:LL by 3:>cn6amblc. 

Our service is perfect. We hzjve recently secured Mr. Robcri Jj. Drown, inc notorious 
tfllkiig machine- salesnvsn from Holxjkci^ ,who will serve you. Special attenbon to ladies. 

Do npx mp^iorv La Tni\e KujRor v/Pce»\ ea\svenx\^ tl\c»« ads 




Illlllllllll Illllllllll IIIIMIIII 

DLDICATION 



To • thosG-mcmbcro • o\ • nmbulancc-Compny 
No . J V- who 'gavo ' Tncir • lives • for • iiic main- 
tenance • or • an • lacal — mo • ideal- or- service 
lo-mcir • follows- m •ikc-i;rue5l-5cnsc-ot--mG 
worn — mis • kistory • la • af rcclionaioly 
acaicatca . 





Mi 






PREFATORY NOTE 

Ambulance Company Thirty-three, and its 
posterity, are infinitely indebted for the com- 
pilation of this history to Roger S. Fitzhugh, 
Paul Fromer, George B. Moore, Harrison T. 
Sorg and Frederick H. Wilke; each of whom 
has contributed accurately and completely 
the record of the particular phase of the 
Company's activity with which he was most 
familiar, thereby facilitating and making a 
pleasure of my work in writing the history. 

Frank Tracy. 




AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING 

SPONSOR, according to the generally- 
accepted use of the term, is a person 
who is directly chargeable with all of 
the vicissitudes into which his protege 
may fall. It is therefore a somewhat weighty mat- 
ter to ascribe to one person the entire responsibility 
in connection with the organization, training, ser- 
vice overseas and return home of Ambulance Com- 
pany No. 33; organized under the American Red 
Cross; trained on its own initiative and at its own 
expense in a private camp at Butler, New Jersey; 
ordered thence to the Regular Army Mobilization 
Camp at Syracuse, New York; next shifted to the 
United States Army Ambulance Service Camp at 
Allentown, Pa., where it all but lost its identity; 
then definitely assigned for service with the Fourth 
Division of the Regular Army, a division unknown 
and unmentioned in the annals of our favorite divi- 
sions and corps; and after its period of training 
at Camp Greene, Charlotte, North Carolina, trans- 
ported overseas to take part in every important 
American operation between Chateau-Thierry and 
the Armistice ; assigned to the Army of Occupation 
in Germany for a period of over seven months ; and 
finally returned home and disbanded in August, 
1919. That, briefly, is the history of the Thirty- 
third Ambulance Company ; and this is how it came 
to be: 

The sponsor — for the benefit of those who do not 
know, or who have forgotten, his name is Dr. William 



H. Lawrence, and the locale of the opening scene 
was at No. 69 Beechwood avenue. Summit, New 
Jersey — the sponsor had an idea. To the uninitiated, 
the fact of his having had an idea can hardly be 
expected to be impressive. But to those who know 
the sponsor best, his ideas were ever of great and 
terrible significance. His idea was that the system 
of ambulance service as prescribed for the United 
States Army in existing manuals and books on the 
subject (it was in the late winter of 1916-1917) 
was extremely nebulous and unsatisfactory. It 
seemed to him that a man, technically trained and 
surrounded by an aggregation of patriotically in- 
spired young men all gifted with the same degree 
of imagination and initiative as himself, could form 
an ambulance company which would be in itself a 
living, practical demonstration of the proper per- 
formance of this difficult branch of the military ser- 
vice. For obvious reasons, this history can give 
only the high lights in the execution of the idea. 

The more the sponsor thought of his idea, the 
better it pleased him; and, while continuing his 
studies of the development of military medical ser- 
vice as it was being learned from day to day on 
the Western Front, he began to cast about quietly 
for an able assistant or two to further his idea. 
Since ambulance driving might be spoken of as 
having been quite the rage at that time, this was 
not difficult and the plan, with the assistance of 
the Mayor and several other influential people 
of the community, soon began to assume defi- 
nite form. In the spring of 1917 a charter was 



obtained for the formation of American Red Cross 
Ambulance Company, Number Thirty-three ; the nu- 
cleus of the enlisted personnel was gathered together 
from among the young men of the neighborhood, 
and drilling and lecture work were commenced. By 
the time that war was declared by the United States, 
the plan was definitely started, so that it may be 
said with truth that Thirty-three was in it from the 
beginning. 

It is difficult to say just how the news of the 
formation of Thirty-three reached some of the men 
who afterwards became members. An instance 
apropos of this was the case of one of the early 
members who went, in uniform, to a moving picture 
show in New York. The uniform of Thirty-three 
at that time was quite distinctive; cotton khaki 
coat and breeches, canvas leggins, shoes ad libitum, 
a post or garrison cap, collar ornaments according 
to the fancy of the wearer without regard to regula- 
tions and a large white brassard superimposed with 
an almost equally large green cross attached to the 
left sleeve of the coat ; this composed the uniform 
of Thirty-three. A man sitting next to the embryo 
ambulance driver looked him over and asked, in a 

tense whisper, "What in do you belong to?" 

He of the uniform responded by telling what he 
knew of the organization of Thirty-three. The per- 
son who made the profane inquiry was so much in- 
terested in the fact that the Company expected to be 
sent to France within three weeks that he immedi- 
ately took a trip to Summit, enlisted to go along and 
followed his destiny even to the point of becoming 
one of the non-commissioned officers. 

An incalculable aid to the maintenance of the 
Company was the formation of a fund which was 
placed in the keeping of the Commanding Officer 



for the purpose of making life more comfortable and 
easy for the men at such time as the rigors of ser- 
vice should demand. This fund was substantially 
begun and added to from time to time by the good 
friends of the Company both in the vicinity of Sum- 
mit and in New York. It enabled Thirty-three to 
weather a serious crisis at the very outset of its 
existence, and overseas it was of assistance in 
furnishing to the general mess articles which were 
not obtainable from the Quartermaster in the regu- 
lar ration issues. 

Likewise, donations were made of one White am- 
bulance, twelve Ford ambulances, nine GMC ambu- 
lances and a trailmobile type rolling kitchen; these 
gifts were from various individuals and chapters of 
the Red Cross ; they were used in the service of the 
United States Army and it is officially recorded that 
with the nine GMC ambulances, in one week while 
the Company was at Camp Greene, one thousand 
seven hundred patients were transported to the 
base hospital. Various members of the Company 
took their own motor cars to the Butler and Syra- 
cuse encampments and these cars were of valuable 
assistance in motor instruction, transportation, 
courier service and the like. 

On Memorial Day, 1917, Thirty-three participated 
in exercises at the Lincoln School in Summit, where 
many of its lectures were held. 

A short while later a big rally was held in an 
auditorium in Summit, and the city turned out to 
hear about the war from the lips of a Canadian 
officer and an American ambulance driver who had 
been at the battles of Verdun, and to take a look 
at the men who were going to represent it in Amer- 
ica's effort. The rally was under the auspices of 
the American Red Cross and a large audience stood 



at Attention while the Company filed down from the 
stage and out into the streets. 

During May and June enlistment proceeded until 
it was complete, with the proverbial assortment of 
all manner of men from barbers to bankers on the 
muster roll. The second-in-command, a tactful and 
efficient officer then and always, was Lieutenant 
Maynard G. Bensley, M. R. C. Lieutenant Harry 
H. Wilson also was one of the original four officers 
of the Company, as was Lieutenant John K. Adams, 
afterwards familiarly known as "Butch" on account 
of his fabulous description during a lecture, wherein 
he dwelt with evident relish on the wholesale ampu- 
tation of legs and arms which he had carried on 
while a civilian. These three officers followed 
Thirty-three through most of its career and their 
service, both as officers and in their relations as 
man to man with the enlisted personnel, was char- 
acterized by a definite conception on their part of 
the aims and interests of the Company. Unfortu- 
nately, on account of sickness, while in the Argonne 
offensive. Captain Lawrence, then a Major, was un- 
able to remain with the Company. Shortly after- 
wards Lieutenant Adams was lost to Thirty-three 
and later, Lieutenant, then Captain Wilson, also was 
evacuated, both being incapacitated through sick- 
ness. Lieutenant, afterwards Captain Bensley was 
a staunch and loyal adherent to the original Thirty- 
three from its inception until it was discharged at 
Camp Dix. 

On July 4th 1917, the sponsor came into his own ; 
for, though the parade on that day was a City of 
Summit affair in theory, it was in reality a tribute 
to him. For to the man who marched through the 
cheering throngs at the head of his Company, was, 
is and always will be due the major portion of the 




success of what we all fondly believe to have been 
the finest ambulance company that the United 
States Army ever has known. It was his implicit 
faith, enthusiasm and energy, coupled with the re- 
markable patriotism and ability of the enlisted per- 
sonnel, that put Thirty-three at the top. 

CAMP VAN WYCK, BUTLER, NEW JERSEY. 

|N July 4th, after the entire Company had 
taken part in the Summit parade, which 
occupied all the morning, an advance 
guard of about a dozen men proceeded by 
automobile to Butler, to prepare for the arrival of 
the main body. 

On the morning of the 6th, the bulk of the re- 
mainder of the Company assembled at the Elks' 
Club in Summit, and shortly after noon a convoy of 
some thirty automobiles which were furnished and 
driven by the citizens of Summit, transported the 
men and their baggage to Camp Van Wyck at 
Butler. In the streets of Summit the families and 
friends of the men were assembled in small groups 
to see them off, and the string of motors was 
speeded on its way with tears and cheers until it 
was clear of the city. A brief run brought the con- 
voy to the camp and on the lawn, afterwards the 
parade ground, pandemonium reigned until sleeping 
quarters had been assigned and baggage disposed of. 
The camp, which was to be our home for the next 
couple of months, was made available through the 
courtesy of Mr. P. V. R. Van Wyck, upon whose 
grounds the site was located. "Headquarters" was 
an unused clubhouse situated on an eminence on 
the west shore of a beautiful little lake with wooded 
slopes all about and a rugged hill rising high in the 



eastern perspective. The setting was ideal for the 
purpose, and the mind lingers often in affectionate 
memory of the weeks spent at Camp Van Wyck. 
The men were housed in three barracks adjacent to 
headquarters and the officers' quarters, general mess 
and kitchen were all located in the main building. 
Later, with the arrival of more men, tents were pro- 
cured and one platoon at a time placed in them for 
a short period, when it was replaced by another pla- 
toon, thus giving everybody an opportunity to get 
out on the ground. 

Within two or three days after the arrival of 
the men. Camp Van Wyck began to take on all the 
elements of a real army camp. The grounds were 
cleared of stones and obstructions, the grass cut, 
latrines, pits and incinerators constructed; and a 
rigid schedule of work, including lectures, drills, 
hikes, automobile instruction, athletics and other 
physical training, was begun and strictly adhered 
to during the two months at this camp. Formal 
Retreat was instituted almost at the beginning and 
remained an impressive feature of camp life until 
the end. On visiting days this ceremony was wit- 
nessed by a considerable gallery of friends of the 
men ; and afterwards the visitors, peering in through 
the mess hall screens, observed the less edifying 
spectacle of evening mess. 

But the almost Utopian nature of the situation 
was marred by the fact that, contrary to early ex- 
pectations, we should not be able to count on imme- 
diate service overseas. As it became apparent that 
there would be some little delay in our reaching 
France, the mutterings of malcontents became more 
and more audible until they threatened to over- 
whelm the peace and discipline of the Company. 
This difficulty was somewhat relieved when, on July 



30th 1917, we were duly enlisted in the Medical 
Enlisted Reserve Corps of the United States Army. 
This afterwards was corrected to a Regular Army 
enlistment. 

During the days when dissatisfaction began to be 
apparent, the Commanding Officer was wont to as- 
semble the Company in the shade of the headquar- 
ters building, overlooking the lake, and to talk to 
them in a fatherly manner about the big ideal of 
service to their country, the true perspective of the 
situation which they must strive to visualize, the 
necessity for a close and patient application to the 
work of training; and his discourses always ended 
with the announcement that, according to the latest 
indications, the Company had "every assurance" of 
being quickly recognized and assigned to active 
duty. 

In consequence of one of these talks, a solemn pro- 
cession was formed at the barracks one warm after- 
noon during a rest period. "Queen" Oppenheimer 
and "King" Arnott, preceded by their trumpeter and 
jester, and followed by their loyal minions, passed 
in review before the astonished occupants of the 
officers' porch. The king and queen were clad in 
fanciful, barbarous costumes consisting mostly of 
blankets and feather dusters; their followers wore 
bathing suits. The procession wended its way down 
to a canoe on the lake shore; the king and queen 
embarked with their banner, bearing the inscription 
"The Isle of Every Assurance"; they were soon 
paddled to a tiny island in the centre of the lake, 
where they planted their banner and christened the 
island. They then gave a thrilling exhibition of 
what looked like walking on the surface of the lake, 
when they walked about, ankle-deep in the water 
covering a submerged portion of the island. 



But with all their satirical reception of the more 
serious aspect of their work, the men took to the 
demands of military discipline in a way that showed 
that they were determined to accomplish their task 
in spite of appearances to the contrary. During 
drills they slaved without a murmur; at lectures 
their attention was unflagging and their technical 
questions sometimes amazing; the parade ground 
and barracks were kept in splendid condition; and, 
although lawful authority was questioned occasion- 
ally, the prompt obedience of the average man to 
legitimate orders was remarkable. The Sergeants 
were tyrants and, with their terrible power to im- 
pose fatigue, even to the extent of doubling that 
punishment, they had the wholesome respect of 
everybody. 

There was good natured rivalry among the pla- 
toons; at Retreat each of the three platoons strove 
for the best line while passing in review. The 
drivers, aides and bearers were ready to fight over 
the decision of this matter at any time; and the 
staff, composed of eight men, usually chimed in with 
the information, thanklessly received, that it kept 
the best line anyway and that none of the platoons 
was entitled to the guidon which was the badge of 
superiority. This spirit of sectionalism in the Com- 
pany was greatly beneficial to the morale of the 
whole, as it fostered keen, clean competition while 
welding the entire mass into a solid organization. 

When mid-August arrived, with no service in 
sight, rumblings again broke out and even the hard 
work of the day was insufficient to quiet the restless 
spirit which had pervaded the entire personnel. 
Meanwhile, the Commanding Officer and influential 
friends of the Company were working their hardest 
to get it the recognition which they felt it deserved 



on account of the high calibre of the men and the 
efficiency of their work. Frequent trips to Wash- 
ington on the part of those interested failed to pro- 
duce an assignment to active duty with a division, 
and it began to look as if nobody wanted Thirty- 
three. 

At about this time a series of teaparty, or sociable 
hikes to various private estates in the vicinity af- 
forded much diversion and frivolous comment 
among the men. The climax of these social affairs, 
namely the uproarious first and immaculate second 
hikes to Greenwood Lake, will live long in the recol- 
lection of Thirty-three. Who can forget the con- 
sternation when the first party returned with sev- 
eral hardened offenders in custody, or the jealousy 
of the first hikers when those of the second party 
were permitted, on account of their exemplary be- 
havior, to stay at the lake for two nights and one 
day? 

Upon the return of the second hike, it began to 
appear that our waiting was nearly over, and that 
the Company was to see active service "somewhere." 
And therefore, when the last days of August 
brought orders to move to the Mobilization Camp at 
Syracuse, New York, the fever of excitement was 
intense and the rapidity of preparation for depar- 
ture was great. 

On the morning of August 31st 1917, packs, bag- 
gage and stores littered the parade ground. But out 
of confusion came order when the heavy equipment 
and baggage were loaded in trucks and ambulances 
and the men, with their packs, were picked up by 
the Summit motor convoy again for the trip to Sum- 
mit where the entrainment was to take place. Camp 
Van Wyck, with its thousand recollections, was left 



regretfully to vacancy, and the immediate future 
became the all-absorbing object of interest. 

At Summit, a light lunch was prepared at Nippon 
Hall, and it quickly disappeared before the ravenous 
advances of the hungry Company. The afternoon 
was spent in drilling on the ball field, while an im- 
mense crowd of the relations and friends of the men 
was assembling to see them off. After the drill each 
man was allowed about three-quarters of an hour 
with his friends, but the Company was assembled 
again at Nippon Hall for a more or less formal din- 
ner at which the Mayor and Major Lytton of the 
Summit N. D. 0. made inspiring speeches of wel- 
come and good-bye on the part of the city. 

Then, in the presence of a multitude, the like 
of which Summit never had seen before, the Com- 
pany was assembled; and, with full equipment, 
escorted by the National Defense Organization, and 
with the assistance of the band, the Fire Depart- 
ment and a rabid host of madcap humanity yelling 
its collective head off. Thirty-three marched to the 
station and entrained for the trip to Syracuse, leav- 
ing the city in hysterical tumult at the departure 
of Summit's own unit for the war. 

AT SYRACUSE. 

N the morning of September 1st 1917, 
several passenger and freight cars were 
shunted into the siding in front of the 
State Fair buildings at Syracuse; and 
Thirty-three, an awful spectacle in the variety of its 
uniform and accoutrements, detrained and stretched 
itself to get rid of the kinks which come through 
fourteen hours' travel in a crowded day coach. 
The Company was formed and marched into the 




Fair Grounds, where it reposed on the brick-floored 
porch of one of the fair buildings, while its destiny 
was being settled at camp headquarters. It seemed 
that conflicting orders had assigned us to report 
to a certain Commanding Officer at the Syracuse 
Mobilization Camp. Difficulty arose from the fact 
that, while the Company had proceeded to Syracuse, 
New York, the officer in question was located at 
Allentown. Pa., and the entire morning passed with 
the fate of the Company in the balance. 

A charitable Mess Sergeant gave the men a mess 
of beans, bread and coffee, for which they were duly 
thankful. Meanwhile, the diflSculties at headquar- 
ters had been straightened out, and the Company 
was given its equipment of pyramidal tents and as- 
signed to a street at some distance from headquar- 
ters. By supper time camp had been made and every- 
body was more or less comfortably sheltered from a 
terrific thunderstorm which had come up during the 
afternoon. 

In the street next to that of Thirty-three there 
was located a provisional replacement battalion for 
the Fourth and Fifth Field Artillery. This battal- 
ion was composed of typical old Regular Army sol- 
diers, most of them having served one or more en- 
listments, and Thirty-three was fortunate in being 
thrown into contact with these men, who taught us, 
to our sorrow occasionally, those many little tricks 
and secrets of being a soldier after the old army 
fashion which can be learned nowhere but in the 
society of men of this type. 

During the State Fair the Company maintained 
details at the Fair Grounds to exhibit under the 
auspices of the American Red Cross, first aid prac- 
tice, litter drill, ambulance loading, trench crawls 
and other accomplishments ; and the up-state farm- 



ers, thronging about the booth, marvelled at the 
capability of our soldiers, as described in the accom- 
panying lectures given by an orator who shall re- 
main nameless. 

Using its own ambulances, the Company carried 
out the evacuation of the Camp Hospital at Syracuse 
to the Post Hospital at Port Ontario, approximately 
thirty miles away ; this phase of the work, together 
with incessant drilling, hiking, lecturing and other 
training, occupied the two months which were spent 
at this camp; and the pale, slim rookies who had 
reported for duty at Butler a third of a year before 
were now developing into sturdy, well-disciplined sol- 
diers under the stimulus of hard work and the 
association with regular troops. 

But Thirty-three did not stop there. Before the 
Company had been long at the camp, its activities 
spread about the city of Syracuse, until it became an 
institution among the smartest people in town. Con- 
sider, if you will, the beautiful unconventionality of 
it. If you went to dinner with the city's leading 
families, Thirty-three was there; if you dropped 
into the most modest "Movie" show or at the opera 
house, you found the Company present at both; 
and from the lowly spaghetti parlor to the palatial 
Hotel Onondaga, where one man hired a suite of 
rooms in order to wash his overcoat in the bath tub 
on a moist Saturday evening, you could find the 
Company represented, in every phase of the city's 
life. And Otto's. Who can forget ; and by the same 
token, who can remember half the things that hap- 
pened at that delightful resort? 

But in the midst of all the work and diversion at 
Syracuse, the old serpent of internal strife once 
more raised its insidious head, striking at the disci- 
pline and good-fellowship of the men. Personal am- 



bition and an alarming increase in the number of as- 
pirants to commissions characterized this outbreak, 
which was worse than that which had occurred at 
Butler. But the standing luck of Thirty-three held 
good, and nothing happened, except that two men 
were transferred out of the Company to accept com- 
missions. 

Toward the latter part of October, the agitation 
which always precedes a move began to be apparent ; 
and, on the 31st of that month, after a bewildering 
series of parties and other entertainments, the Com- 
pany entrained at the Fair Grounds and bade good- 
bye to Syracuse, where it left an innumerable train 
of pleasant reminiscences and broken hearts. But it 
was a gay and care-free crowd that enjoyed on the 
train that night the box-lunch which the ladies of 
Syracuse so kindly had prepared as a last evidence of 
their regard for the Company. 

ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 

HE next morning, November 1st 1917, 
found Thirty-three in the freight yards 
at Allentown, Pa., and as they detrained 
at about eight o'clock and marched up 
through the city to the United States Army Ambu- 
lance Camp at the Fair Grounds, they made a gal- 
lant showing, this time all uniformly equipped with 
regulation accoutrements obtained at Syracuse, and 
with leather leggins, which certainly deserve a place 
in this history on account of the controversy which 
attended our procuring them. 

Arriving at camp, we found it occupied almost en- 
tirely by units recruited from the various colleges in 
the country. These units were organized on the 
French system, of forty-five men and an officer to 




one section. Our Company, being organized on the 
American plan, was one hundred and twenty-two 
strong, with four officers and room for one more. 
The men were just coming out from breakfast when 
the Company arrived in front of camp headquar- 
ters and the mess hall, which were located in a build- 
ing underneath the gi'andstand. The business-like 
appearance of Thirty-three attracted many idlers, 
who asked us where we were from and how we liked 
the army, and informed us cheerfully that before we 
had been at Allentown many days, we should be split 
into units of forty-five the same as they were. 
To all this we replied with such dignity and profan- 
ity as became men who had been among regular 
troops for the past two months ; and thus our popu- 
larity was established in the camp. 

The Company then breakfasted in the huge mess 
hall, which is said to have been capable of accommo- 
dating six thousand men in two hours; afterwards 
the assignment to barracks was received and Thir- 
ty-three went to occupy its new home, attended all 
the way by the pleasantries of the other occupants 
of the camp. 

After about a week in camp, during which the 
Company was put on seemingly all the worst details 
that could be found, from peddling newspapers in Al- 
lentown to digging ditches for a steam-heating sys- 
tem which was being installed throughout the camp, 
things began to happen again. It was rumored that 
the Company was to be broken up into units of forty- 
five. There was consternation among the men and 
drastic threats were made as to what each one would 
do if such a thing happened. But, it is said through 
the efforts of the Commanding Officer and his influ- 
ence with the Camp Commander, Thirty-three was at 
this time ordered to take part in maneuvers at Guth 



Station, a detached camp about five miles from 
Allentowm, and the Company forthwith hiked joy- 
fully out to a mudhole which had been assigned as 
camp, and pitched the old pyramidal tents once more. 

This camp was on the ground, in the open, and 
the three weeks that followed showed the good phy- 
sique of the men ; for, though the weather was raw 
and the situation of the camp rather bad than good, 
there was no apparent ill effect except for the usual 
small percentage of minor illness. 

Close to the camp was a miniature No-Man's- 
Land, which contained hills and gullies, dugouts and 
trenches, and was altogether a very fair represen- 
tation of a modern battlefield, as the Company found 
out later. On this ground training was undergone 
in litter and first aid work, with much benefit to 
Thirty-three for the entire period of its stay at 
Guth Station. 

Here, again, internal strife was rampant for a 
while; but, as before, it expended itself in mere 
rumblings which culminated in one large AWOL, to- 
ward the end of November, in which thirty-one men 
were implicated and for which the dreadful penalty 
was that of their being put on bounds for about 
forty days, or until January 1st 1918. Never did 
"Willful-missings" breathe easier than those thir- 
ty-one when they discovered that their week-end in 
New York and elsewhere was to cost them only this ; 
for, as one of them said, "Putting this Company on 
bounds is like taking a postman for a walk." 

On November 26th 1917, in accordance with or- 
ders which had been received a day or two before, 
the Company entrained at Allentown station to join 
the Fourth Regular Division, to which it had been 
assigned for duty at Camp Greene, Charlotte, North 
Carolina. On the morning of the 26th, tents were 



struck and in a few moments nothing remained of 
the camp at Guth Station except the smoldering em- 
bers that were piles of rubbish a few moments be- 
fore, the outline of tents on the trampled, dead 
grass and the raw earth where ditches and pits had 
been filled prior to leaving. The freight and bag- 
gage were sent direct to the train to be loaded and 
the Company hiked into the camp at the fair grounds 
to spend the afternoon. After supper Thirty-three 
was entertained at the Y. M. C. A. hut in camp, by 
the men who had warned us of the certainty of be- 
ing split up into small units; and there was only 
envy, but no malice at all, in the regretful way that 
they bade us good-bye when the Assembly sounded 
for the march to the station. 

In the nipping atmosphere of early evening, and 
under a cold November moon, the Company started 
gaily on its hike to the railroad. As the march 
progressed, it became a triumphal procession after 
the most approved fashion, with the bugles playing, 
men singing and whistling and the populace lining 
the streets to watch and cheer. 

Nothing hindered the entrainment except the 
presence of a few weeping damsels who came to the 
station to gaze and wave as the special train pulled 
out. And that was the last of Allentown, Pa. 

But during the two nights and one day spent on 
the train, the Company reveled in the luxury of 
steam-heated cars with berths in them; and specu- 
lated in sweet anticipation of the good times to come 
in the land of the sunny south. It was an indolent, 
joyous, crap-shooting, card-playing Thirty-three that 
whirled southward, without a care in its erratic 
young head except for the enjoyment of the present 
moment. 




CAMP GREENE 

ARLY in the morning of November 28th 
1917, Thirty-three opened its eyes in the 
freight yards behind the Quartermaster 
warehouses at Camp Greene. It was a 
neutral sort of morning, with the sun making fair 
headway against a sullen mist that hung over the 
eastern horizon ; but there was an unaccountable ab- 
sence of orange groves lining the railroad, alligators 
basking on the banks of stagnant bayous and the 
inevitable chorus of cotton pickers droning their 
plantation melody. Instead, there were sand, cin- 
ders, the conventional wooden camp buildings and a 
scattering of the pine timber which had occupied the 
ground before the camp was built. 

A hike half-way across camp brought the Com- 
pany to a street which was assigned to it; and, as 
moving had long since ceased to be a novelty, the 
pyramidal tents were soon placed on their wooden 
frames, baggage and equipment disposed of and the 
motor vehicles unloaded and parked behind the 
tents. This was on the eve of Thanksgiving Day, 
and it was indeed a gloomy outlook that confronted 
Thirty-three, eight hundred miles from home, as it 
thought of its next day's dinner. 

But the following day brought a wonderful sur- 
prise in the form of a real Thanksgiving dinner 
with all the conventional trimmings. The effect of 
this feast was electrical and all the old spirit of good 
will was revived. "Uncle Sammie" and "Pack All 
Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag" were sung as 
they had been in the most palmy days in Butler, and 
the end of its first Thanksgiving Day in the army 
found Thirty-three stuffed and satisfied. 

A day or two later the powers at headquarters 



decided to move the Company from its new home to 
another street which was next to the guard house 
and stockade of the camp. The stockade was a wire- 
enclosed promenade attached to the guard house, 
and for a while it served as a horrible example to the 
Company. But not for long. 

Inasmuch as Thirty-three came to Camp Greene 
fully equipped with its own ambulances, it was ac- 
corded the dubious honor of furnishing ambulance 
service to the entire camp throughout the winter of 
1917-1918. In Charlotte it was said to be the 
most severe winter on record, and the road condi- 
tions and other facilities of the camp were atrocious 
on account of the rigorous weather. Coupled with 
all this was an extremely high rate of disease among 
men who in many cases never had undergone the ex- 
perience of living in the open before, (the entire 
camp was housed in tents) and the difficulties under 
which the Company worked that winter were tre- 
mendous. Reduced sometimes to half strength 
through illness in its own ranks, it carried on com- 
pletely and successfully the evacuation of sick from 
quarters to the Base Hospital in the camp, to the 
satisfaction of the authorities, who had nothing 
but praiseworthy comment to make on this phase 
of the Company's work. 

January 20th 1918, saw the removal of Captain 
Lawrence as Commanding Officer of Thirty-three, 
when he received his commission as Major in the 
Medical Corps and was appointed Director of Ambu- 
lance Companies of the Fourth Division. He was 
succeeded by Lieutenant Patrick J. McGuire, the 
ranking officer of the Company at that time. Lieu- 
tenant McGuire was a good soldier, an efficient offi- 
cer and a fine man; his name will be remembered 
with appreciation by all who knew him. Later, 



after the Division had received overseas orders. 
Lieutenant McGuire, with Lieutenant Adams, pre- 
ceded the Company overseas as observation officer, 
and Captain James L. Parkes, of the 28th Ambu- 
lance Company, succeeded Lieutenant McGuire as 
Commanding Officer. Captain Parkes was already 
known to the Company, and he quickly established a 
high place in the affections of the men; so that it 
was with genuine regret that they afterwards saw 
him return to his old Company before the journey 
overseas began. 

Other officers who served with Thirty-three from 
time to time were Lieutenants Leon H. Cornwall, 
Charles W. Dunn, William Goldstein, Lawrence B, 
Hatch, Edgar H. Hughes, Charles E. Palmer, Wil- 
liam P. Patterson, Forrest T. Summers and Captain 
William T. May, each of whom has his definite place 
in the recollections of us all. 

A staunch friend of the Company was Major, af- 
terwards Lieutenant-Colonel, W. E. Wilmerding, 
Commanding Officer of the Fourth Sanitary Train 
during the entire period of its existence in the war, 
and now occupying the same post with the provi- 
sional organization of the Fourth Division at Camp 
Dodge, Iowa. 

When the severe weather began to abate, and the 
rigid quarantine restrictions were lifted from Camp 
Greene, the members of the Company began to in- 
vade Charlotte, which fell a captive to the wiles of 
Thirty-three and remained so during all the time 
that the Company was quartered at the camp. 

Many volumes might be written of the activities 
of the Company in this respect, but perhaps it will 
suffice to mention that on April 5th 1918, in the 
ballroom of the Hotel Selwyn, Thirty-three gave a 
dinner-dance which marked an epoch in the social 



life of Charlotte ; at least that is what the charming 
southern ladies led us to believe. The affair was a 
complete success and it firmly established the Com- 
pany in the affections of the Charlotte people. 
But it is to be hoped that nobody ever will divulge 
the precise nature of the language which accom- 
panied the making and arrangement of the decora- 
tions and hangings with which the ballroom was 
adorned on that evening. Thirty-three was ador- 
able ; it was artistic ; it was anxious to be good ; but 
Thirty-three had been ten months in the army, which 
is detrimental to the constant practice of the finer 
forms of speech, and particularly when it was per- 
spiring over the manufacture of the dogwood can- 
dlesticks for the dinner tables, it was shocking. 

The parishioners of St. Martin's Church in Char- 
lotte, and their Rector, were wonderfully hospitable 
in their treatment of the Company, and many pleas- 
ant evenings were passed in their society during the 
winter and spring. 

May 4th 1918, marked a very important date in 
the Company history. At the Suburban Club of 
Charlotte the Company was given a The Dansant 
and on the same day the Company magazine, "La 
Trine Rumor", was born. Under the langorous in- 
fluence of the soft southern spring, and the witch- 
ery of the delightful southern beauties, Thirty-three 
reached the pinnacle of its social success that even- 
ing in Charlotte. The couples were disposed with 
charming ingenuousness about the house and ver- 
andahs, and the chaperones were nodding approba- 
tion of sundry advantageous looking "matches" ; and 
all the while the kind gods were smiling on their 
fickle child. Thirty-three, and preparing to extricate 
it from this latest and giddiest social whirl. 

On the afternoon of May 13th, the Company en- 



trained with other units of the Fourth Division for 
the first leg of its journey overseas. In the rain 
and mud of the freight yards at the camp Thirty- 
three held its last reception, and the southern dam- 
sels mingled their tears with the raindrops as the 
train pulled out on its way northward. The entire 
journey was marked by wild cheering, waving, 
shouting, the blowing of factory and locomotive 
whistles and all other manner of noises that could 
show the departing troops that the people were with 
them on this, possibly their last journey. 

And so, with the full realization of their tremen- 
dous venture just beginning to dawn upon them, 
after the months and months of work and fun at the 
various camps, Thirty-three was actually on its way 
to war. 

THE GOOD SHIP "HORORATA" 

N the evening of May 14th 1918, Thirty- 
three was in barracks at Camp Merritt, 
New Jersey, where preparations were go- 
ing forward busily for early embarkation. 
Friends and relations came thronging to the camp, 
and the Hostess House near our barracks became the 
anteroom of the Company in its last moments "at 
home". The atmosphere, of course, was gloomy ; but 
all about, in our own Company as in all others, was 
apparent a fine spirit of bravery and self-control, as 
Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Wife or Friend came 
to say the last good-bye, and to sit for an hour or two 
on the grass under the trees at the Hostess House, 
saying little but feeling greatly the pangs of im- 
pending separation. 

On May 18th, just four days after our arrival at 
Camp Merritt, the Company entrained for Jersey 




City, crossed by ferry to the Bush Terminal at 
Brooklyn and boarded the SS. "Hororata", which 
was a British vessel built for the Australian beef and 
troop service in the early days of the war, and now 
given over to the American Transport Service. The 
troop deck had a capacity of approximately two 
thousand men, and those who accompanied Thirty- 
three on it were part of the 77th Field Artillery, Am- 
bulance Company No. 28, both of the Fourth Divi- 
sion, and a few casuals from the 28th and 82nd Divi- 
sions. 

When quarters were assigned on the troop deck, 
it was found that they comprised a table, clamped to 
the deck and running beamwise, provided with 
benches and seating about fourteen men, with hooks 
for hammocks at night immediately over the table; 
thus the fourteen men were accommodated, day and 
night, in a surprisingly small space, if you omit the 
room which they were allowed to occupy on the main 
and boat decks during the day. Mess was procured 
at a galley on the after deck, our situation being 
aft, and served in large pans and pails, from which 
it was divided into the messkits at the table. In 
two or three days of rather rough weather which 
occurred on the trip, the "chow-dog's" mission was 
a precarious one, as the pitfalls and back-slidings 
were numerous and unexpected between galley and 
mess table. But everybody entered into the spirit 
of the thing and there was little trouble or grum- 
bling. 

On the afternoon of the following day, the 19th 
of May, the Hororata dropped down New York 
Bay and out to sea, with all of the soldiers on board 
below decks with the portholes closed until Sandy 
Hook was a vague line on the western horizon and 
the last delicate pink glow of sunset merged into the 



sea. It was a sober, quiet lot of men who came on 
deck at this time and gazed wistfully off to westward 
with God-knows-what in the mind of each as he 
thought of the immediate future. 

After evening mess hammocks were slung and to 
the soft gurgle of water on the hull, after the noises 
within the ship had quieted down, and the rhyth- 
matic swinging of the hammocks to the easy roll of 
the steamer, the broken sleep of our first night at 
sea came to all on board. 

The next day found the Hororata surrounded 
by a convoy containing fifteen other ships, with 
which it was to proceed, running through the Gulf 
Stream with its balmy atmosphere and cheery blue 
waters. In the afternoon one of the ships turned 
and disappeared, having put back to port for repairs, 
it was said. As the afternoon was quite warm, all 
hands were ordered to strip and come on deck, where 
they were treated to a bath from the ship's fire hose. 

The following days were spent in reading, resting, 
physical inspection and setting-up exercises, until 
on the fourth day a storm was encountered which 
gave us some rough sailing for two or three days. 
The weather was just bad enough to give an idea of 
what might be expected if a real gale were blowing, 
and everyone voted that the sample was realistic 
enough. 

On May 28th, in the afternoon, great excitement 
was occasioned by the firing of one of the guns on 
the Hororata; rumor flew about the sighting of a 
submarine ; but it never was either confirmed or de- 
nied and no submarine was seen by any of the men. 
So the voyage proceeded peacefully until, on the 
morning of May 30th 1918, we rose to find ourselves 
entering the Irish Sea and we were soon running, 
under a beautiful, clear sky and on a perfectly calm 



sea, between the rugged coasts of Scotland and Ire- 
land. Shortly after noon the entire convoy, which 
had picked up as escort a large fleet of sub-chasers 
and destroyers, with two dirigibles hovering over 
all, began to zig-zag in a hurried manner and pres- 
ently the quick-firers on one of the destroyers at the 
extreme right of the formation began to work. Soon 
all the guns in that vicinity were booming and the 
stem gun of the Hororata roared louder than the 
rest. Everybody swarmed up to the most advan- 
tageous viewpoint attainable and cheered madly as 
his own boat fired, until, at the point where the fir- 
ing first broke out, an immense explosion was ob- 
served and a column of flame and smoke and water 
rose into the air to a great height. The excitement 
died down, the convoy continued on its way and it 
was reported later that a submarine had been sunk. 

At ten-thirty that evening the ship was safe in 
the Mersey and the following morning found it tied 
up to the docks at Liverpool. Two nights and a day 
were spent on board ship here, except for a short 
time when all the troops went out for a hike through 
the town, where every man was impressed with the 
awful situation in England. The streets were 
stripped of their men, and only a few old men, boys, 
women and little children gazed with terrible, calm 
eyes on the troops as they marched through the 
city. 

On June 1st the Company entrained at Liverpool 
and was whirled down through the midst of peace- 
ful, quiet, orderly England to the huge camp at Win- 
chester, supposedly for a rest. Here, too, was evi- 
dence of the desperate situation of the Allies. The 
camp was almost empty, only a few Canadians and 
about a battalion of conscript artillery and a few 
oth'er troops being there. It seemed as if every 



available man had been sent to the front, and that 
the Americans, hurriedly mobilized and trained as 
they had been, were very much in demand at this 
dark hour. 

After remaining at Winchester for two days, the 
Company entrained and was taken down to South- 
ampton, where almost the entire day of June 3rd 
was spent in idling on the docks and chatting with 
the British who were going across the channel to 
resume their place on the line. Most of them were 
tired and almost hopeless, and the despairing way 
in which they told us that the Hun could not be 
stopped was quite alarming. But, fortunately, there 
was a pitifully small sprinkling among the British 
here of the Old Contemptibles, those heroes who 
had stopped the mad rush of the Germans at Mons 
in 1914 ; and they, being the typical Tommie Atkins, 
were not quite so talkative but much more inspiring 
than their more pessimistic brothers. 

At dusk the Company was marched off the pier 
and jammed into the SS. "Antrim", a fast channel 
steamer, with a perfectly bewildering number of 
other troops, considering the size of the boat. Just 
before dark, the Antrim steamed down the harbor 
and out of sight of land. In the chilly night, with 
hardly room to stand, the men huddled together 
and dozed as they stood, while a few of the more 
fortunate ones, having found a place to creep away 
and lie down, slept through it all. No danger was 
apparent during the night, and dawn found the ship 
safely docked behind the breakwater at LeHavre, 
where we had our first sight of France and the 
French. 

After disembarking, the Company was hiked to 
another rest camp which, like all other similar 
camps, was situated on the highest possible hill, at 



the most inaccessible distance from the city. When 
tents had been assigned, and they were those tiny 
conical tents, in which one wonders how the British 
army manages to keep under cover, the Company 
was marched several kilometers to a place where gas 
masks were fitted and distributed; the long hike, 
after the voyage and the unaccustomed British ra- 
tions, which are rather scanty compared with our 
own, completely tired the men and they went early 
to sleep that evening. 

After two days' rest at LeHavre, Thirty-three was 
introduced to that famous friend of the A. E. F., 
the "Forty-Hommes-Eight-Chevaux" freight car, in 
which the journey for "somewhere in France" was 
begun. In order that the trip might not be mo- 
notonous, each car was amply provided with bully 
beef, hardtack and canned tomatoes. 

It may be noted from the preceding chapters in 
the history of Thirty-three, that the Company up 
to this time had experienced little of the real atmos- 
phere of war. At the various camps and canton- 
ments, it had been in more or less close touch with 
home and friends; it had had all the diversions 
available in large towns nearby; and the period of 
its activities in the United States had been in the 
nature of a splendid vacation or sight-seeing trip. 

But there were two underlying facts in connec- 
tion with Thirty-three which made it, in action, sec- 
ond to no organization in the A. E. F. ; first, the 
extremely high calibre of the enlisted personnel, 
which fitted them alike for the duties of ambulance 
driver, first aid work in the dressing stations and 
litter-bearing in the front lines and beyond ; second, 
and equally important, the thorough and rigorous 
training and life in the open for practically a year 
which had developed the physique of the men to a 



point where mere exposure or hardship had little 
effect on their health or morale. The combination 
of these two facts, or qualities, though the Company 
was unaware of it at the time, was to be its salva- 
tion in many a trying hour in the months to come. 

And so, with superb confidence; but with monu- 
mental ignorance of the tremendous drama in which 
it was at last to take its little part, Thirty-three 
clattered south-eastward through beautiful, war-rid- 
den, indomitable France, to the Department of the 
Haute Marne, where, on June 8th, in the late after- 
noon, along with Ambulance Company No. 28, which 
was destined to be as it had been for some time past 
Thirty-three's steadfast travelling companion, it de- 
trained at the little station of Vitrey. 



FAYS-BILLOT 

HE road maps designate it as Fays-Billot 
and the majority of the natives do like- 
wise ; a few people call it Fayl-Billot, but 
in either case it is the same quaint, quiet 
country village that received Thirty-three on that 
beautiful Sunday morning of June 9th 1918. But — 
In the darkness of the preceding night, on which 
the march from the railway began, someone had 
blundered; and dawn, followed by sunrise and full 
day, found an irritable and almost rebellious sol- 
diery, covered with fine white dust, squatting by the 
roadside, almost within pistol-shot of the town, call- 
ing down the vengeance of the gods most dear to 
army vernacular upon the several varieties of double 
dashed absolutely blanked imbeciles who had piloted 
the column on its benighted journey from the rail- 
way station, eight miles away. As no officer was 




present to volunteer for the sacrifice, the gods were 
not appeased; and, when at last an Assembly was 
called for the formal entrance to the town, a gale 
of audible mirth and vitriolic comment swept along 
the line. Loud speculation was indulged in as to 
how the officers had spent the evening, and a wag 
near the end of the column requested, in a well- 
known voice, that "Uncle Sammie" be sung. 

But shortly after noon billeting was fairly started, 
and at nightfall everybody was quite at home in the 
spare rooms and lofts of the peasants' houses and 
barns. The first night in rest billets, after a super- 
ficial examination of the class of entertainment af- 
forded by several cafes in town, passed off without 
noteworthy incident or accident. 

In the three weeks that followed, work was re- 
sumed, with particular emphasis on the use of gas 
masks. Several excursions were made to a nearby 
forest where, under the direction of a representative 
of the French government, we learned something of 
how the wood supply is conserved by these resource- 
ful people. Such was the particularity of the pro- 
cess of cutting and gathering wood that it seemed 
that not an atom was wasted, even the twigs and 
leaves being bundled and saved. Hiking and a sort 
of general training were resumed, and the process 
of acclimatization was speedy, as money was ample 
(pay-day occurred here for the first time in France) 
and the wines of the country potent and plentiful. 
Under the influence of the advantageous locale, 
French progressed wonderfully well. The hospitality 
of the natives was without reserve, and the men 
were entirely won by the charm and kindness of the 
people. 

Basket-weaving is an active industry in Fays- 
Billot, and the men were first entertained by and 



later initiated into the mysteries of the crude busi- 
ness of cutting, bunching, stripping and preparing 
the osier withes. In off time, as we roved afield, 
the surrounding country with its many farms fur- 
nished much diversion and not a little sustenance 
as the possibilities of pleasantly supplementing 
our meagre army rations with eggs, milk, cheese and 
real butter, became apparent. 

The village was composed of old stone houses 
flanking crooked, hilly streets radiating from the 
public square or market place, which served as 
parade ground. An agricultural school, then given 
over to the training of crippled soldiers, was one 
of the most pretentious buildings in the village. On 
a hill in front of our mess hall was an ancient-look- 
ing church, imposing in its beautiful setting in the 
midst of old trees. Here many of the men were at- 
tracted on Sundays, when the inhabitants turned 
out in full force and the additional congregation of 
soldiers quite filled the church. The beadle with 
his uniform and staff stalked grandly through the 
aisles, the cure was heroic in his constant appeal 
to the people, after their four years of agony, for 
fortitude; always for fortitude and patience, and 
the little girls with their white silk bags shyly took 
the oflFertory among the soldiers. It was an inspir- 
ing influence to men who shortly were to go up to 
the lines. 

As to the recreations of the Company, what can 
be said that has not been said already? Transplant 
Haroun-al-Raschid or any of the characters of the 
Arabian Nights into a French wineshop; clothe 
Bacchus and his votaries in 0. D. and turn them 
loose upon an unsuspecting countryside; imagine 
Omar Khayyam as a buck private, bathing in the 
flowing bowl and singing his way through the army ; 



do all this and you will have a nebulous conception 
of Thirty-three as others saw it, in neighborhoods 
remote from the front. 

But do not think the less of your boy because he 
was with that Company. On the other hand, thank 
the gods that he has had a liberal two years' course 
in the University of Life, whose students are Men 
and whose Faculty the experience of the raw, red 
days, the hideous nights and the world upside-down 
which afflicted France during those years. And do 
not blame France ; for your boy knows, as you never 
will know, the unquenchable fire which is her spirit, 
and the personification of hospitality and grace 
which is her people. Picture to yourself glorious 
France, holding back the Hun with one weary hand, 
while she extended the other to give the strong 
grip of friendship and appreciation to your boy. 
They were strangers; she did not understand his 
methods nor he hers. But France, with character- 
istic unselfishness, opened her heart to him and gave 
him all that was hers. She is not to blame if he, 
with the lack of discernment which is an attribute 
of his youth, occasionally took advantage of a situa- 
tion which was unfair to them both. 

On June 24th 1918, in the early evening. Thirty- 
three, with Ambulance Co. No. 28, was marched to 
Charmoy, the nearest railway station, and entrained 
once more for what was rumored to be a position 
near the latest Hun push for Paris. During the 
night the men fraternized with the occupants of a 
French troop-train which was in a huge railroad 
yard where our train was stalled for a couple of 
hours. This first sight of French troops, moving 
as they were from one part of the line to another, 
was quite the reverse of those disheartening im- 
pressions which had been acquired in England. The 



men were vivacious and seemingly less worried than 
the British conscripts; but the lean, brown faces 
were deeply lined and the cheery, dark eyes had a 
tired look in the back of them which made us feel 
again that the Americans were arriving in the nick 
of time, if not just a little too late. 

The second morning after entrainment found us 
in the railroad yards at Noisy-le-Sec, a suburb of 
Paris, where we had breakfast, a wash and a distant 
view of Eiffel Tower. The journey was resumed 
until, after passing through the city of Meaux, the 
Company detrained at Lizy-sur-Ourcq, then the 
nearest station to the apex of the push toward Paris. 
The atmosphere was somber as Thirty-three stood 
looking up the railroad tracks and listening to a 
faint rumbling sound which came from that direc- 
tion. 

IN ACTION AT BELLEAU WOOD 

ROM Lizy, a half day's march, almost all 
on the upgrade, brought the Company 
within sight of its new home. It seemed 

that a chronic state of blundering had 

attacked the organization ; for with the hike practi- 
cally over and the billeting area almost in view, a 
truck train hove in sight which had been detailed to 
haul the men and their packs from the railway. 

The interminable twilight found the men pitching 
pup tents at the back of a beautiful old chateau out- 
side the tiny village of Pierre Levee. The chateau 
itself was in excellent repair, and there was some 
furniture left in it which gave an idea of the former 
grandeur of the place. The building consisted 
of the facade and two wings partly flanking a 
large courtyard in front, with flower beds and 




walks all rank with untrimmed grass. To the left 
of the court were the stables, and the farm build- 
ings and barns were opposite them on the right 
of the yard, which was fenced in from the road by 
a high, ornamental iron railing. The farm was en- 
closed in a high wall of field stone. At the back 
of the chateau was a large terrace, overlooking an 
old moat and a sunken garden, where a huge iron 
urn, empty, rose from the long tangle of tall weeds 
like a monument of desolation. The entire area im- 
mediately surrounding the chateau was a large park 
or propagated forest of gigantic old trees laid out 
in orderly rows, with alleys or walks in every direc- 
tion which gave, from the chateau, charming vistas 
of woodland scenery, with the promising gold of the 
harvest nearly ready in the grain fields farther out 
on the farm. Under the shelter of these wonderful 
trees, for the first time in company with all other 
seven ccmpanies of the Fourth Sanitary Train, the 
Company bivouaced like the old soldiers that they 
now were, and waited with interest for the next 
move. It was not long in coming. 

On July 1st 1918, at an Assembly in the chateau 
grounds, a call was issued for fifteen volunteers to 
go up to assist the Marine Brigade of the Second 
Division in and near Belleau Wood. A similar de- 
tail was called from Ambulance Company No. 28, 
making a total of thirty men who presumably would 
act as litter bearers. On account of the large num- 
ber of volunteers, the detail had to be chosen by the 
Commanding Officer; and the fortunate ones were 
soon on their way to the front. For three days no 
definite word was received from this detail. 

During the time spent at the chateau, which was 
in a direct line between the front and Paris, and 
right on the route taken by the air raiders who went 



over to bomb far behind the lines every night, 
Thirty-three obtained its first experience in this re- 
spect. After nightfall a loud, moaning buzz an- 
nounced the coming of the Boche, and the men all 
turned out, but kept under cover of the trees, to 
watch. As the plane came nearer, the brilliant 
beams of many searchlights hidden in the neighbor- 
hood began groping like long, thin fingers in the 
sky. Presently, a beam hesitated and an anti-air- 
craft gun fired ; in a second or two, high up over the 
converging beams of the searchlights, appeared a 
tiny flash which was followed by an explosion as 
the overhead shrapnel or high explosive shell burst. 
Then, as the other guns got into action, that portion 
of the sky became alive with little winking flashes, 
like clouds of fireflies, as the batteries threw their 
sky barrage in an effort to hit the Hun, or to keep 
him from approaching too near. But as Meaux and 
Paris were his objectives, the Boche seldom came 
down within range; and presently the searchlights 
disappeared one by one, and the guns ceased to 
shoot, leaving the intense stillness broken only by 
the dull rumble of the guns at the front a few miles 
away. The following account of what was happen- 
ing, meanwhile, to the volunteer detail with the 
Marines, is based on the account rendered by one of 
the men who was a litter bearer with that detail and 
later with practically every front line detail which 
was sent out from Thirty-three. 

A long truck ride brought the detail to Bezu-le- 
Guery. It was their first experience at living in a 
town under shellfire, for early next morning the 
Germans threw several big projectiles into the vil- 
lage; one of the shells killing three Frenchmen and 
one Marine. Part of the detail was sent to Field 
Hospital No. 1 of the Second Division, while the 



rest were engaged in digging graves, and carrying 
and burying many dead, both French and American, 
that were about. 

At six o'clock that evening, July 2nd, a call came 
for six of Thirty-three's detail to go up into the front 
lines with the 5th and 6th Marines at Belleau 
Wood. They arrived at a front hne dressing sta- 
tion at dusk. The Marine officer in charge, appar- 
ently expecting experienced men from his own Divi- 
sion, gave a sympathetic glance at the green hands 
who reported to him, and made the more or less 
encouraging remark that it was only about one time 
in a thousand that a shell made a direct hit on a 
man; he charitably neglected to mention that most 
of the casualties are not from direct hits, but from 
shell splinters or shrapnel. Some men from Ambu- 
lance Company No. 28 were also in this place, it ap- 
parently being their destiny to be "brigaded" with 
Thirty-three everywhere. The whole detail was now 
split up and sent to advance dressing stations, where 
they had no sooner settled in their dugouts than 
they were sent out to carry in wounded. The dress- 
ing stations were holes dug in the ground and cov- 
ered over with branches of trees, dirt, stones and 
pieces of old uniforms. It was here that John A. 
Dean, of Thirty-three, while carrying in a wounded 
Marine on a litter, was lost. He and Carl Nixdorff 
were carrying in the litter over rough, broken 
ground through the woods (it was night), when a 
shell exploded alongside the litter, killing the patient 
and mortally wounding Dean. Dazed at the miracu- 
lousness of his own escape, practically lost in the 
shell-swept woods, but true to his training, Nixdorff 
dressed the wounds of his dying and dead comrades 
and then went for help to bring them in. When help 
finally arrived, it was too late and Jack Dean had 



made the ultimate sacrifice ; he had died in the effort 
to save another man's life, which is the finest and 
noblest death that man could desire. Good soldier, 
staunch comrade, brave man, he was buried where 
he fell at Belleau Wood, that ground which will be 
ever identified with that which is bravest and best 
of the true manhood of the United States of 
America. 

Some of our men acted as runners, and their lot 
in this action was an unenviable one. The woods 
were ghastly at night, and white gauze streamers 
were attached to trees and bushes in order to mark 
the almost impassable paths in the darkness. In the 
daytime, when a fire was permissible, gasoline was 
poured over dirt and ignited; this made a good fire 
over which beans, bacon and coffee were cooked. On 
the night of July 4th, the 5th and 6th Marines, and 
with them Thirty-three's detail, were relieved, com- 
ing out between the American and enemy barrages. 
The five remaining men of the detail rejoined the 
rest at Bezu-le-Guery, where they remained until 
July 6th. The balance of the detail had been tend- 
ing gas patients at Field Hospital No. 1 during the 
time when the six men were with the Marines. 

A grotesque bit of the humor of war was ob- 
served by one of our men as the detail was leaving 
Belleau Wood with the Marines. When the Brigade 
was coming out, a Marine found a battered silk hat, 
which he promptly picked up and put on his head; 
then, using his rifle as a walking stick, he gave his 
buddies an exhibition of how he would swagger down 
Fifth Avenue when he reached home. It was a 
characteristic touch of the careless gaiety which is 
sometimes observed at the front. Later, when his 
regiment went again into the trenches, he was killed. 

On July 6th, as truck passengers, the detail rode 



back to the Company at Pierre Levee, where little 
could be extracted in the way of comment on what 
they had seen from these, our own veterans of 
Belleau Wood. 

On July 2nd, all excess baggage had been collected 
and stored at Meaux, and the men were confined to 
the packs which they carried. This looked like more 
action; but, for the next few days, the men lolled 
about the woods or played baseball, until on the 
evening of July 6th, a truck convoy picked up all 
eight companies of the Sanitary Train, for distribu- 
tion in the reserve area of the line from Soissons to 
Chateau-Thierry. Thirty-three moved by devious 
and torturous ways to Acy-en-Multein, where it ar- 
rived at three in the morning and encamped in the 
grounds of a chateau outside the town. These 
grounds were used jointly by a French evacuation 
hospital and Field Hospital 33 of our Division ; dur- 
ing the days that followed, it was a very busy place, 
and the little cemetery near the Company kitchen 
grew larger and larger with the addition of French, 
American and German dead from the hospitals. The 
Germans were buried a little apart from the Allied 
dead; for although the wounded Huns were cared 
for to the utmost limit of available appliances and 
skill, and the dead carefully buried, there seemed to 
be a hesitancy, unspoken but apparent, to give them 
the same ground as our own. 

THE AISNE-MARNE OFFENSIVE 

IS the moment of action for the entire 
Company approached, the question most 
discussed was "When are we going to get 
our ambulances?" Like all things in the 
army, we had but to wait for the answer. On July 




7th, Thirty-three and each of the other two motor 
drawn companies of the train sent a detail of thirty 
men to the railway station at Lizy-sur-Ourcq to 
entrain for St. Nazaire, where the ambulances 
awaited them. The men carried their packs and 
the conventional supply of bully beef, salmon and 
loaves of bread. The same afternoon they detrained 
at Paris and marched through the city to another 
railway station where they entrained again. On the 
morning of the 11th they arrived at St. Nazaire, 
where they were immediately put to work to assem- 
ble ambulances. Thirty-three drawing an assign- 
ment of fourteen three-quarter ton G. M. C. cars. 
On the afternoon of July 12th the convoy was 
taken outside the park, lined up for an early 
start next morning and — the men allowed to go out 
on pass into the city for the evening. Ten o'clock 
was the hour set for their return to camp; but the 
attractions of St. Nazaire were too much for them 
and, on returning after ten o'clock, eight fell into 
the hands of the 10th Cavalry, who were policing 
the place. They were thrown into jail for the night. 
Next morning, instead of their beloved steering 
wheels and gear shift handles, the eight truants 
were wielding brooms, shovels and wheelbarrows, 
under the supervision of an armed guard who was 
most solicitous of their welfare. However, at 1.30 P. 
M., the Lieutenant in charge of Thirty-three's detail 
obtained the custody of his men, and the convoy 
went merrily on its way back to Acy, where it ar- 
rived on July 17th. At 4 P. M. on the same day, 
eight of the cars were ordered to proceed to the 
front, to be followed shortly by the other six. 

On the following morning, the opening of the 
Aisne-Marne counter-offensive, all of the ambu- 
lances were in action, and the wounded were pouring 



into the hospitals at Acy in a constant stream. Dur- 
ing the entire period of action, the cars were main- 
tained in running order constantly, by the substitu- 
tion of one set of drivers and orderlies for another 
after each driver and orderly had done twenty-four 
hours' work at one stretch. This continued without 
intermission until August 12th, when the Division 
came out of action. 

On the night of July 17th forty men from the 
Company were sent as litter bearers to Noroy and 
Thury, where the Seventh Brigade, composed of our 
39th and 47th Infantry, was in action with the 
French. Some of the men established dressing sta- 
tions, one being in a huge cave; others made long 
distance carries of wounded, utilizing two-wheeled 
carts for the transportation of severely wounded. 
It was here that a ludicrous incident occurred which 
was anything but funny to the men who participated 
in it. A lull in the arrival of wounded and the burn- 
ing of a towTi which was holding up the advance 
gave some of the bearers a chance to snatch a little 
sleep. It was a chilly night, with moonlight, so it 
seemed wise to make use of some of the unoccupied 
German dugouts in an old orchard. On approaching 
one, the man nearest it suddenly retreated, as he 
had seen a flash of light down in the dugout, and 
all that he had been taught of the clever traps which 
the Hun leaves behind him had instantly recurred 
to his mind. Several of the men, whose truly Amer- 
ican curiosity had been aroused, began to stalk the 
dugout or its inmates in a most systematic manner. 
When they arrived at the entrance, nobody came out 
and nothing happened. It was then discovered that 
a mirror, left in the dugout by the Germans, had 
been so placed that the moonlight was reflected in 
it and that was the light which the first man had 



seen. Next morning, as the advance progressed, our 
men had a good view of their own infantry, brigaded 
with the French, actually in action, going over the 
top. 

As the offensive continued the work increased; 
for, with the advancement of our own lines, the 
length of the trip back to the American and French 
evacuation hospitals became greater, and it seemed 
that the influx of patients was too great to permit 
the suspension of work at the hospitals for an 
interval long enough to allow them to move. Con- 
sequently it was not an uncommon thing for an 
ambulance, laden with seriously wounded, to leave 
the dressing station or triage, in the evening and 
not return from its trip until the next morning, 
the hospitals being located in the immediate vicinity 
of the Marne River, from Chateau-Thierry almost 
half way to Paris. It was thus the good fortune 
of our drivers to be able to see all of the fighting 
front of this historic battlefield, as well as all the 
rear areas. Here again, the wonderful fortitude of 
the French was apparent in the manner in which, 
in villages located an incredibly short distance be- 
hind the actual battle front, the peasants pursued 
their daily work as if war were the farthest thing 
in the world from their comprehension. 

As the apex of the so-called Chateau-Thierry sa- 
lient was eradicated, the general direction of the at- 
tack, from northeast, became north, and it was nec- 
essary for the ambulance companies to make a series 
of rapid moves in order to keep up with the advance. 
On July 22nd, Thirty-three moved from Acy-en- 
Multein to Courchamps, which had been within the 
German lines, and which gave the Company its first 
collective experience in the devastated area. The 
town was a little to the left and in front of Belleau 



Wood, which was visited by all the men during the 
next few days. Courchamps was located on a 
hillock, overlooking a broad, shallow valley covered 
with wheatfields. In the midst of the field was a 
little wooded hill which had been a very strong local 
German position, as indicated by the trenches and 
dugouts surrounding it. On the far side of the 
wheatfields, toward the lines, was more woodland. 
The 8th Brigade Infantry of the Fourth Divi- 
sion had gone over this ground in the face of a Ger- 
man light battery which still stood in the open 
ground, among the wheat, its guns jammed at the 
breech, one gunner, dead, leaning against the wheel 
of his piece, peering over the sights, just as he had 
stood watching the death that was approaching him. 
Another man, while retreating, had been wounded 
and had sat down on the ground to apply a first 
aid dressing to his foot, when a shell bursting 
nearby had practically cut oflf his head. Strewn 
about were other dead, both German and American, 
and in a large square hole nearby was a German 
trench-mortar, hidden by its camouflage. In the 
wheatfields little beaten paths showed where the 
infantry had advanced to the attack in the face of 
a murderous artillery, machine-gun and rifle fire. 
Courchamps itself had suffered considerable damage 
from heavy shellfire, but there were still many 
houses standing. From Courchamps a detail of first 
aid men was sent to the neighboring town of Mon- 
thiers, where they lived in an old house partly de- 
stroyed by shell fire and established a dressing sta- 
tion which was ready for action immediately. 

On July 25th the Company moved from Cour- 
champs to Bussiares, where the 28th Field Hospital, 
of our Division, was located. A large number of gas 
patients were evacuated to the rear from this point. 



On July 31st, another move was made, from Bus- 
siares to Bezu-St. Germain, which was across the 
Chateau-Thierry-Soissons highway. The following 
day the Company moved to Epieds, near which point 
the 4th Artillery Brigade first saw service when 
the 16th Field Artillery went into action, on the 
run, firing pointblank at the Germans who were now 
in full retreat. This town was at a point where sev- 
eral main roads converged, and the traffic of motors, 
men, guns and animals, going in all directions, was 
enormous. 

From Epieds a detail was sent into the lines to 
act as litter bearers. They were told to report to 
the 58th Infantry dressing station. After reporting 
at one of the front line stations, four of the men 
were sent out into No-Man's-Land in broad daylight 
to look for a dead Major who, as was later ascer- 
tained, had some informative papers on his person 
which would have been of value to the enemy. For 
five hours, through gas and shellfire, these men 
searched up and down the open field. The body of 
the Major was finally found; in the act of leading 
his battalion to the attack, he had fallen, with his 
whistle still firmly between his teeth. The body 
was put into a blanket and the four exhausted men, 
lifting it with diflSculty by the corners, succeeded in 
bringing it back safely under the very eye of the 
watchful Germans. The detail was likewise occu- 
pied in loading ambulances and dressing wounded 
while at this station, without sleep and in the con- 
stant presence of gas which the Germans used at 
this place. 




BEYOND THE VESLE RIVER 

ROM Epieds, on August 3rd, the Com- 
pany moved to Villers-sur-Fere, which 
was a little town located on a command- 
ing hill overlooking the surrounding 
Foret-de-Fere and the City of Fere-en-Tardenois. 
The town of Villers sur Fere had been the scene of 
great activity during which the Forty-second, or 
Rainbow, Division, assisted by the Fourth Division's 
Seventh Brigade, had done some very fierce fighting, 
particularly a short distance to the right of the 
town. The Company was quartered in an old farm, 
in the orchard of which had been a picket line where 
the shell fire had done great execution among the 
horses, which were lying about all over the place. 
The damage from shell fire here had been great, but 
there were still many buildings intact. A little 
parish church in the town had been hit several 
times, but the chancel was unharmed, although the 
vestry had been entered and the furnishings, includ- 
ing the sacramental robes and draperies, had been 
thrown about the floor but not taken away. As the 
season was summer and the vicinity thick with 
dead horses and men, the flies were numerous and 
troublesome. 

On the night of August 4th, thirty-five men of 
the Company were sent to join the 58th Infantry 
at Mt. St. Martin. Some of the men spent the 
night at Chery-Chartreuve, sleeping in the ditches 
along the main road. This road was alive with 
troops, ambulances, trucks and guns passing up and 
down all night. In the morning the detail, which 
was then intact, was led out over open fields by the 
Lieutenant in charge, in full view of the Germans. 
A dressing station was to be established which, 



through some error, the detail was proceeding to do 
in a town which was still fully occupied by the 
Germans, and the entire thirty-five, with their of- 
ficer, were soon out beyond their own outposts and 
consequently in great danger, it being daylight. The 
Germans, evidently mistaking the movement of this 
small body for some sort of feint to an attack, 
turned a terrible fire of artillery on our men, who 
lay in shellholes as the projectiles shrieked and 
the shrapnel hissed about them. It was one of those 
tense moments when a man's life seems extremely 
insignificant. The detail now proceeded to do the 
only thing that was possible. Crouching in holes 
when a shell landed near, then springing up and 
darting in a crouched position until the warning 
shriek of the next shell made them fall flat or dive 
into the nearest hole, they worked their way back 
to Mt. St. Martin. While not a man of the detail had 
been even wounded, the retreat of the little band had 
drawn a heavy fire on the infantry and artillery in 
and about Mt. St. Martin. The detail, though lack- 
ing its officer, established a dressing station in the 
shadow of a stone wall, and some of the men went 
out under the constant fire to bring in wounded; 
others, wearing gas masks, carried the wounded back 
through the fast crumbling town to the dressing sta- 
tion of the 58th Infantry. That night, as the town 
of Mt. St. Martin was a heap of ruins and drenched 
with gas, the men, still lacking their officer, found 
their way back to the Company by twos and threes, 
still marvelling at their miraculous escape. The 
officer also had retraced his way and had reached 
the Company in safety. 

Meanwhile, in the shell-torn town of Chery-Char- 
treuve, another dressing station had been estab- 
lished by Thirty-three, where the men were kept 



constantly on the alert by the shelling of the town 
and the constant arrival of wounded. 

On August 4th, the Company moved from Villers- 
sur-Fere to Mareuil-en-Dole, passing en route 
through the ruined city of Fere-en-Tardenois, which 
was very much dilapidated but not entirely de- 
stroyed by heavy shellfire. Mareuil was located just 
off the main road near an important crossroads 
which was subject to the constant attention of the 
German long range artillery. The town was just 
under the noses of a number of 155 mm. rifles which 
were located on a hillside nearby and which added 
to the excitement and noise. A triage was estab- 
lished in a building in the center of the town, where 
the large courtyard in front and the yard and street 
in the rear were constantly jammed with ambu- 
lances bringing in wounded from the front or pick- 
ing them up for transportation to the rear, horribly 
mangled men whose dressings had to be adjusted 
before their being sent farther to the rear, a large 
number of dead placed in long rows on litters at the 
back of the triage awaiting burial and the tired, 
muddy men on duty in the place. The Company 
kitchen was directly opposite the triage and the 
exigencies of the emergency kept cooks and kitchen 
police on duty all the time with a devotion and 
dogged persistence which won for them the respect 
of all who paused to note this phase of their thank- 
less task of feeding an army in action. 

On August 8th a detail of twelve men was sent 
to St. Thibaut to act as litter bearers for the 47th 
Infantry, the bulk of whose medical men were killed 
or wounded. This was all front line work, at the 
River Vesle. While our detail was there the first 
line infantry received orders to fall back to the 
second line. This is a phase of the historic battle 



of the Vesle which was hardly mentioned in the 
newspapers at the time. In this, the first retrograde 
movement in which it had taken part. Thirty-three's 
contingent proved itself again and again. They 
saved and carried back the wounded under fire from 
the dominating heights across the river, listening 
all the while to the piteous cry of the men who 
seemed to realize instinctively that they might be 
left behind and whose constant cry of "First Aid! 
First Aid!" will follow the litter bearers long after 
this war has become ancient history. How different 
it was from the frivolous moments on the training 
grounds at Allentown where the litter bearers, on 
the make-believe No-Man's-Land back home, had 
gone through the trenches whistling and calling, 
"Here wounded !". 

It was on this detail that the men met that hero, 
Major Webster, who was Regimental Surgeon of the 
47th. Of his courage, kindness and ability more 
will be said in another place. 

After messing for two days with the front line 
infantry, this detail was relieved by eight other men 
of the Company who entered the front line along 
an old country road which was protected fairly well 
in some places by a high embankment on each side; 
in other places the machine guns of the Boche were 
very troublesome. The men lived in fox holes 
scooped out of the embankments by the roadside. 
That night some of them were sent out beyond the 
front line to look for wounded. The Germans had 
an immense searchlight playing from their side and 
sweeping up and down No-Man's-Land. It was a 
ghastly and fantastic sight to see the men groping 
about in utter helplessness to evade its terrible play. 
Early in the morning one of the detail went over 
the top with a patrol which was sent out to locate 



enemy machine gun nests. On the morning of Au- 
gust 12th, when the Fourth Division was relieved by 
the Seventy-seventh, the Thirty-three detail was the 
last to go and they returned to the rear through a 
pounding barrage which was intended to harry the 
withdrawal of the gallant Fourth as it came out af- 
ter having been, in whole or part, in action for forty- 
two days. But there were fortunately very few 
casualties as a result of this bombardment. 

While at St. Thibaut one of the members of 
Thirty-three figured in an incident which was partic- 
ularly interesting to those who saw it. This man, 
who was on front line detail work in every action in 
which the Division participated, was sent out to find 
a location for a dressing station. While proceeding 
cautiously he came on the entrance to a deep cave. 
Hearing voices, he approached the cave and found 
concealed there ninety French people, nearly all civil- 
ians, who had been prisoners. They were starved 
old men, haggard women and emaciated children 
who were huddled in the place, after having been 
told by the Germans that the Americans were com- 
ing to kill them. One of the old men had a note 
from a German officer to the Americans. In it the 
Hun oflScer stated that the occupants of the cave 
had been prisoners and servants, and requested that 
they be treated well. To the amazement of the poor 
prisoners they were taken from the cave, loaded on 
trucks and moved back to Mareuil, where Thirty- 
three fed them full on bread and coffee. 

Two men of the Company were also at Chery- 
Chartreuve, at relay stations, one with the 4th En- 
gineers and one with the 58th Infantry. 

While the litter bearers were so valiantly uphold- 
ing the reputation of the Company on the line, the 
ambulance drivers and aides were doing staunch 



service in carrying out, with the sole assistance of 
two ambulances from the 42nd Division, all the evac- 
uation from this part of the line to the rear. It re- 
quired every ounce of brain and nerve to keep their 
cars running and themselves alert in the intricate 
maze of main road traffic ; and it is recorded that in 
this, as well as in all other actions in which they 
took part, there was not a single mishap which was 
due to carelessness or ignorance of road conditions, 
locations, stations, hospitals and organizations with 
which our men had to do. 

At Mareuil, where Company headquarters was 
located, conditions were bad. Practically everybody 
was affected with dysentery, presumably on account 
of a scourge of flies due to the dead and the 
filth in which the men were compelled to live. 
It was therefore with great joy that, on August 
12th, the Company moved to the Chateau de 
la Foret de Fere and made camp among the dugouts 
in the woods. 

The ambulances were relieved on the 13th and 
during that night and the following day everybody 
rested in pup tents under the trees. 

On the evening of the 14th the Company, as well 
as the Division, began to move out of this sector. 
An anxious few moments were spent squatting on 
the ground in the moonlight while a Boche plane 
hovered nearby and dropped flares and bombs into 
the woods. But there was no immediate danger to 
our men. 

After hiking all night, and leaving many ex- 
hausted stragglers on the road to catch up as best 
they might, the Company reached the woods out- 
side Courboin on the morning of the 15th. Resuming 
the hike on the 16th the Company arrived at the 
Chateau of Montmirail at 4.00 P. M. and pitched 



pup tents under the shade of its venerable trees. 

At 3.00 A. M. on August 18th the Company en- 
trained at Montmirail and arrived at Andelot, its 
destination, at 8.00 P. M. the same date. A short 
truck ride brought us to Prez-sous-LaFauche, where 
billeting was completed about midnight. 

Thus Thirty-three came down out of action into 
a period of well-earned rest, with a record of which 
the most fastidious soul in the Company might well 
be proud. In one period of eight days, working 
night and day, approximately two thousand seven 
hundred patients were evacuated by the Company, 
and there were many more during the drive for 
which no figures are available. We had maintained 
details and dressing stations in the immediate front 
lines and had come through many tight places un- 
scathed. We had lost but one man and yet we had 
taken part in what is considered by those who know 
to have been some of the worst fighting of the war. 
And Thirty-three was beginning to be known 
throughout the Fourth Division as an organization 
which could be depended upon anywhere. 

REST BILLETS 

URING the trip down to Prez-sous-La- 
Fauche one of our ambulances, which 
went overland, had an amusing experi- 
ence in the city of St. Dizier. The con- 
voy had stopped for supper in the city and had 
then gone on ; the ambulance in question dropped out 
and stopped just outside St. Dizier. After park- 
ing, the men accompanying this car met several of 
the Ambulance Section Headquarters men, all 
former members of Thirty-three, who were also 
camped in the neighborhood, and the entire party 




went back to St. Dizier on foot to explore among the 
wineshops. While thus engaged, they observed that 
a fire had broken out in the town and, being mem- 
bers of Thirty-three, of course they stepped into 
the spotlight when a little hand-pumping fire engine 
was dragged down the street to the scene of the 
blaze. While the populace stood about crying "Vive 
les Americains ! Vive les Etats Unis !", our men took 
charge of the tiny fire apparatus and although the 
building was practically destroyed they helped to 
keep the fire from spreading to other houses. 
Long afterwards, when the Company was back on 
the fighting line, a communication was received 
through military channels, complimenting the men 
in behalf of the French military and civil authorities 
at St. Dizier on their splendid behavior in putting 
out the fire. A curious phase of the whole incident 
is the fact that diligent inquiry failed to disclose 
the participants in the affair, with the exception 
of one man whose name was mentioned in the com- 
munication. 

The constant use of our motors in the recent ac- 
tion had made a general overhaul of most of the 
cars an absolute necessity. Therefore, the time at 
Prez-sous-LaFauche was a busy one for the mechan- 
ical staff, who toiled through the long hot days in 
feverish haste to repair the wastage and damage of 
the late grind. The Company itself was drilled and 
inspected and refitted until at the end of about a 
week it began to look like the old, dapper Thirty- 
three again. 

In the peace and quiet of this rest area, however, 
there was a dolorous note; the wail of the angry 
Mess Sergeant, whose susceptibilities were griev- 
ously wounded at the constant arrival of canned 
meats, tomatoes, dehydrated potatoes and French 



Army bread which was all too reminiscent of paving 
stones to be very much appreciated when the men 
were doing light work. After the plentiful supply 
of fresh beef which had been common while in ac- 
tion, this radical change in diet called for serious 
inroads on the local supply of fowls, rabbits, fresh 
bread, cheese and the inevitable wines. So, com- 
plaining at the scant rations by day, and feasting on 
such of the fat of the land as was available by night, 
we passed the short stay in Prez-sous-LaFauche 
agreeably enough. 

While the ambulances were being repaired, enough 
of them had to be kept in condition to evacuate the 
sick from all organizations of the Fourth Division to 
our own field hospitals which were located in a 
nearby village. This work necessitated frequent 
trips to all the surrounding towns and gave the men 
a further opportunity to view the entire neighbor- 
hood. 

On a commanding eminence, about a mile from 
Prez-sous-LaFauche, is situated all that is left 
of the ancient castle of LaFauche. It was a fa- 
vorite pastime of the men while located in this 
area to start after supper and walk leisurely 
over to the site of the castle where, after an almost 
perpendicular climb up the steep hillside, an hour or 
two would be spent in exploring what was left of the 
citadel. The keep was practically intact, as was 
part of the castle wall ; a subterranean passage was 
visible and could be traversed; but the greater part 
of the structure had tumbled down and now lies in 
promiscuous heaps of masonry all over the hilltop. 
But the view from the place was magnificent; to 
westward an immense sweep of the valley of the 
Marne, with its scattered villages, level fields and 
broad, tree-lined roads ; while to the east and south- 




east, in the remote distance, was the faint outline 
of the Jura foothills. Here, in the long, lazy twi- 
light, it was peaceful indeed; until a homing aero- 
plane, slowly returning from the lines, reminded us 
that our business was war, and that we should soon 
be about our business once again. 

ST. MIHIEL 

I'N September 1st the Company was trans- 
ported by French Army trucks to a wood 
near the village of Vavincourt, a short 
distance northwest of Bar-le-Duc. On a 
cold, drizzling night, it was really the morning of 
the 2nd, the men were told to turn out in the streets 
of Naives. They did so, only to find that nobody 
seemed to know where to go. Consequently the men, 
in the absence of orders to the contrary, began to 
drift away by twos, threes and squads until finally, 
at about two in the morning, the streets were de- 
serted and the men housed in every barn, shed and 
room that could hold them. 

At about eight o'clock in the morning an officer, 
appearing from nowhere in particular, came down 
the road and found the men crawling sleepily from 
their retreats of the night before. Putting himself 
at the head of the bedraggled procession, and pick- 
ing up other truants at every step, he marched up 
the road a couple of kilometers and the entry into 
the woods was made in broad daylight, in defiance 
of the order of absolute secrecy which precluded 
troop movements except at night. But the standing 
luck of Thirty-three still stood, and nothing ever 
was heard of this escapade. 

Pup tents were pitched in the woods and all the 
company kitchens of the Sanitary Train were estab- 
lished at the edge of the timber nearest the road. 



Re-equipment was still going on, and during the 
next few days the companies were completely fitted 
out with everything that they needed. It was while 
located in this place that Thirty-three received an 
article of equipment which caused much merriment. 
One night a horse-drawn water cart, minus the horse, 
was brought to the Company kitchen. A detail was 
assigned to care for the cart which, when the next 
move was made, in the absence of the horse which 
never came, had to be lashed on behind one of the 
motor trucks and thus trailed ingloriously into 
action. 

A single-track railway line ran just outside the 
woods and a train on this line went down every 
evening to Bar-le-Duc. It became known as the 
Fourth Sanitary Train as every evening a great 
many of the men waited outside the woods, caught 
the train, spent the night in the city and returned 
again on an early train in time for Reveille. 

On the night of September 7th the Company 
moved from the woods outside Vavincourt to the 
town of Sommedieue, which was just behind the po- 
sition alloted to the Fourth Division on the extreme 
left flank of the St. Mihiel salient. This town was 
well within range of heavy shellfire, and during the 
stay here there was constant activity in the form of 
troops passing up and down, aerial battles and raids 
and some shellfire. 

On September 11th the Company established 
dressing stations at Sommedieue, Dieue and Geni- 
court; and its ambulances were assigned to cover 
all the advance area of our Division in this sector. 
But as the Fourth Division was in a pivotal position, 
and as its advance was scheduled to be for a short 
distance only, for the purpose of making and main- 
taining contact of its flanks when the salient was 



closed, there was little to do as the casualties were 
extraordinarily slight. It is well known that in this 
offensive the Americans suffered very little in pro- 
portion to the losses in terrain and prisoners which 
the Germans sustained. 

One day, while the Company was quartered here, 
a spectacular air battle was witnessed in which a 
Hun aviator, caught behind our lines, made a tre- 
mendous fight against overwhelming odds before he 
was finally brought down. He had been indulging 
in the pastime so popular with aviators, of exploding 
artillery observation balloons. Six or seven Allied 
planes discovered him and forced him down from a 
great height. While one of their number, an Ameri- 
can, chased the Hun at low altitude, the others ho- 
vered over the two in order to keep the German 
down. Time after time he tried to elude the Ameri- 
can by swooping downward and then rising rapidly ; 
but he could not run the gauntlet of those above. 
The American, meanwhile, was sticking close to the 
German's rudder and finally, to an accompaniment 
of rapid spurts of machine gun fire, the American 
rose above and behind the Hun and drove him down, 
out of control. Those who saw the plane after its 
fall said that the German aviator had been wounded 
several times and that he was dead when they 
reached the machine. 

While in this vicinity, many members of Thirty- 
three were able to visit the city and the cita- 
del of Verdun. In its lofty position overlooking the 
valley of the Meuse, the city stands a grim monu- 
ment to the heroic legions of France who opposed 
their bodies as a rampart against the fiercest on- 
slaughts of the Hun in 1916. Standing on the bat- 
tlements of the city, and looking out over the deso- 
late valley, it was with a mind and heart full of the 



most profound emotion and admiration that one vis- 
ualized that awful struggle and thanked the gods 
that his own country at last was in a position to take 
part in the war, even though that part be somewhat 
in the nature of an anti-climax. 

Shortly before leaving Sommedieue, the Company 
witnessed a proof that the Boche, nominally beaten, 
withdrawing and cruel to the last, was not deficient 
in courage. A German plane came over the town 
one evening and, shutting off his motor, swooped 
low and, following the line of the main road through 
the town, sprayed every street with his machine gun 
fire. He rose again and disappeared into the sunset 
sky. Luckily, nobody was injured. But it was one 
of those feats which stand out overwhelmingly from 
the standpoint of daring, to the credit of even a 
German. 

On September 19th the Company marched from 
Sommedieue to the woods northeast of Lemmes, ar- 
riving at midnight. On the 21st another move was 
made, by ambulance and truck, to Sivry-la-Perche. 

THE MEUSE-ARGONNE 

IVRY-LA-PERCHE was a little town hid- 
den under the shoulder of a steep hill on 
the road up into the Argonne sector. The 
French Town Major said that the village 



had not been shelled for about two years, although 
it was within easy range of German batteries 
to the north and also those across the Meuse to 
the eastward. The town could be approached with- 
out danger of observation by a deviation from the 
main road over the valley of Nixeville and through 
an immense ammunition dump north of that place, 
thence over a nai'row valley road into Sivry. But 




the characteristic perverseness of Thirty-three took 
it too far north on the main road and into Sivry over 
a high hill in plain sight of the German balloons to 
the east. At sunset the Ambulance Section ration 
truck, also strayed too far to the north, came over 
the same hill while the Germans took pot shots 
as it loomed against the sky ; but it arrived safely in 
the village. That night Sivry was treated to a little 
shellfire and thereafter, at intervals, the Germans 
turned their attention toward the town or the cross- 
roads just outside; but without damage to the Com- 
pany. 

On the night of September 25th the artillery prep- 
aration for the Argonne offensive began. The tre- 
mendous rumble of the mighty thunder of three 
thousand guns shook the ground ; the sky was alight 
with flashes which would have paled the northern 
lights; the roads were packed with men and guns, 
ammunition and supplies, all moving forward to feed 
the mouth of Hell which gaped and belched desola- 
tion and death a few short miles away. 

On September 24th a dressing station had been 
established by us at Bethelainville, where the artil- 
lery was, and two days later it was moved to a partly 
destroyed house in the village of Esnes. 

On September 28th a detail of eight men was sent 
to the front to transport medical supplies by hand, 
owing to the difficulties of the terrain ; this detail 
reported back to the Company on October 1st. 

On the night of September 29th the Company 
marched from Sivry-la-Perche to Cuisy, which had 
been inside the German defenses but a few hours 
before. Owing to great congestion on the roads, due 
to the damage which had been done by the immense 
concentration of artillery fire, it took the Company 



about thirty hours to make this trip which ordina- 
rily would have been about a half day's march. 

It was just before the move to Cuisy that the Di- 
rector of Ambulance Companies, Major Lawrence, 
was taken ill and had to be evacuated to the hospital 
at Souilly. A day or two after his evacuation he 
was removed farther to the rear and thus ended his 
active connection with Thirty-three, which was now 
under the immediate command of Captain Harry H. 
Wilson; Captain A. J. McCarey succeeding Major 
Lawrence as Director of Ambulance Companies. It 
is remembered to his everlasting credit that in this, 
the greatest American offensive. Captain McCarey 
assigned Thirty-three's ambulances to the post of 
honor in looking after front line work in connection 
with the advance of the Fourth Division. The 
Company was assisted occasionally by cars of the 
other two motorized companies of the train, the 19th 
and 21st Ambulance Companies, while its old friend. 
Ambulance Company No. 28, was actively engaged in 
front line litter bearing and other details on account 
of the absence of its animal drawn transportation. 
The Field Hospitals, corresponding in numerical des- 
ignation with the four ambulance companies, were 
also moved to Cuisy. It was therefore the task of 
Thirty-three to pick up the wounded at the advance 
dressing stations, evacuate them to the field hospi- 
tals and return to the lines. The 19th and 21st Com- 
panies then transported the wounded back to Sou- 
illy, which was an evacuation hospital center located 
at a railhead some twelve or fifteen miles to the rear 
of Cuisy. 

On the route to Cuisy, after leaving Bethelainville, 
the Company marched out over a stretch of country 
which in the matter of desolation and destruction 
eclipsed anything that had been seen up to that 



time. From Bethelainville across the open country 
to Montzeville, where the Allied front line had been, 
the damage was ordinary. But on leaving the latter 
place and proceeding down into the low ground out- 
side the village of Esnes it was seen that our bar- 
rage, as well as the continuous fighting of the past 
four years, had been terrific. All that remained 
of Esnes was the remnant of its chateau, all 
but pounded to pieces and standing alone among the 
brick piles and rubbish of the town. Alongside the 
road, on the eastern approach to the town, where a 
little wooden bridge crossed an arm of the Forges 
Brook, the scarred stumps of old trees protruded 
from the mud like broken teeth in a shattered jaw. 
Leaving Esnes the road ascended again, skirted the 
western slope of Hill 304 and was fairly out on the 
terrible No-Man's-Land of the furious battles 
of Verdun. The appearance of the country was in- 
describable; as in all the vast area which is visible 
from here, there was not a square yard which had 
not received its shellhole; the ground had been 
turned and turned again by the constant bombard- 
ment, and it looked indeed like the graveyard of the 
world. Passing through Haucourt and Malancourt, 
both mere heaps of brick and powdered mortar, the 
road came out on the crest of Hill 308 in full view of 
Montfaucon, which had been the stumbling block of 
the 79th Division and which had been captured only 
after having been outflanked by the Fourth Divi- 
sion's Seventh Brigade. Dropping down into the 
valley, the Company located at Cuisy and camped on 
the slopes northwest of the town on the morning of 
September 30th. 

Cuisy was a very warm place that afternoon, and 
the kitchen crew were badly hampered in their work 
by the constant arrival of large calibre shells by 



which the German artillery raked the valley with 
great skill and precision. The valley was crowded 
with troops and horses and it seemed as though every 
shell that landed took its toll. 

Thirty-three suffered another casualty here which 
sobered the Company for many days afterwards. 
Sergeant Henry C. Stevens was crouching in a hole 
on the hillside with other members of the Company, 
when a big shell came over and exploded close to the 
hole where they lay. A fragment of the shell hit 
Stevens in the chest, mortally wounding him. He 
lived only for a short time and was buried near 
where he fell. One of the youngest members of the 
original Company, he was universally liked and ad- 
mired on account of his being an ideal representa- 
tive of the true young manhood of America. Young, 
clean, strong, well disciplined both as to his per- 
sonal habits and his military duties, he was all that 
we should like to have been ourselves. His death 
was swift, unexpected and seemingly uncalled for. 
But the memory of his life is an inspiration to those 
who knew him best. 

On October 1st the Boche resumed his shelling 
of the valley and as the hospital tents were being hit 
and some of the patients wounded again, an order 
was given to withdraw to Bethincourt, four miles 
southeast of Cuisy. The companies were divided 
into four-man litter squads and each squad took a 
patient for the carry to the new location. It was 
difficult work, but it was accomplished and the serv- 
ice re-established the same day at Bethincourt, in 
the shadow of Le Mort Homm.e. 

But Bethincourt also was unsafe for the hospitals, 
as the Hun insisted on shelling a crossroads at that 
place, so the companies, on October 4th, hiked far- 
ther to the rear and camped on a hill at Fromereville. 



Meanwhile, in the front lines, the litter bearers 
were busy as before. From Cuisy, a detail went to 
Septsarges, where a dressing station was estab- 
lished in the only practicable building in the town. 
Another detail went into the Bois de Septsarges and 
afterwards farther forward to work with the ad- 
vance infantry dressing stations. Both details 
worked under constant shellfire and in the presence 
of gas, at litter bearing, ambulance loading and 
dressing wounds ; and an additional detail, at the foot 
of a hill at Septsarges, pushed ambulances over a 
difficult part of the road. These, and other details on 
duty with the line troops, worked their way for- 
ward with the line in the face of the stiffest resist- 
ance which was encountered in this engagement, as 
the position of the Fourth Division was in the cen- 
ter of the push. 

One of the men with the advance detail worked in 
personal contact with Major Webster of the 47th 
Infantry. In the estimation of the men who were 
with him. Major Webster represented all that a med- 
ical officer should be. Fearless, kind, considerate, 
but withal a strict adherent to the necessities of 
military discipline, he spared neither himself nor his 
men when the question of caring for wounded was 
to be considered. He had obtained a German wagon 
and a pair of mules and it was his custom to drive 
out, alone, or accompanied by the Thirty-three man 
who has been mentioned, in search of wounded ly- 
ing in the woods. Loading the wounded on the 
wagon, they would drive back to the dressing sta- 
tion, care for the patients and return to the woods 
for other casualties. During the latter part of the 
Argonne offensive. Major Webster was leading a 
detail of men over a heavily shelled piece of ground, 
when a shell fell almost directly on the detail. The 



Major was instantly killed with two of the detail, 
and several of the other men were wounded. His 
loss was keenly felt, not only in his own regiment, 
but also among the many men who had known him 
through service with the 47th as litter bearers. 

While the Company was moving backward and 
forward, and the bearers working at the front, the 
ambulance drivers and aides were having a very dif- 
ficult time in keeping up their work under the most 
trying conditions that they had yet experienced. 
After the artillery preparation at the opening of the 
attack, a portion of the only road leading into that 
sector in a direct line had been absolutely wiped out 
where it crossed the swamp which is the basin of the 
Forges Brook. For about three miles the Engineers 
had to build a new road across the swamp, utilizing 
everything that came to hand. Brick, stone and 
beams from ruined houses composed the roadbed, 
while crushed stone was placed in thousands of 
sandbags at the rear and each vehicle that went up 
the road carried its two or more sandbags of stone, 
placed on the running boards to be taken off and 
dumped into holes on the new road. This process of 
building a road with an army moving over it was 
very difficult, and the traffic was so slow that it 
sometimes took a truck or ambulance forty-eight 
hours or longer to make a round trip from Sept- 
sarges to the rear and back again, although the dis- 
tance was only about fifteen miles. 

The incessant rains and cold weather during Oc- 
tober were responsible for considerable minor illness 
in the Company, as well as among all other troops in 
the neighborhood. It was practically impossible to 
keep dry or warm, and the lot of the men in the 
trenches was a miserable one. The infantry and ar- 
tillery, and of course the medical and other troops 



attached to them, ate and slept, lived and were 
killed in mud; and the chilly fall winds swept the 
hills and desolate valleys of the Meuse country con- 
tinually. 

Due doubtless to exposure and hardship, Wil- 
liam Garvin and Horace B. McPherson, both of Thir- 
ty-three, were taken sick with heavy colds which 
developed, after their evacuation from the lines to 
hospitals in the rear, into pneumonia or influenza. 
On account of their being separated from the Com- 
pany, little could be learned of their progress as no- 
body could leave the outfit while it was at the front, 
and consequently it was not until after some time had 
elapsed that it was learned that Garvin had died on 
October 26th, and McPherson on November 28th, 
1918. Both men had been known and appreciated 
for their true worth among all of their fellows. In 
a less spectacular fashion than those of their com- 
rades who had been killed in action, but as a result 
of the endless, wearing grind that was the lot of us 
all in those days, they paid the full price of their 
patriotism; doing their work well until they were 
unable to do more and then going cheerfully to their 
inconspicuous death, uncomplaining and unafraid. 
Apart from the rest as they were, they must have 
known at the last how the knowledge of their sacri- 
fice touched their fellows, and how the remembrance 
of that sacrifice would be a source of deep pride and 
satisfaction to those who knew them and worked 
with them. 

As the country in this sector was hilly, the ambu- 
lances came in for their share of hairbreadth es- 
capes. The hilltops and slopes facing the lines were 
under constant observation; and, contrary to the 
popular belief in the decadence of the Boche artil- 
lery, some very accurate shooting was done. On a 



hill rising southward from Gercourt to Bethincourt, 
Hill 199, direct hits on vehicles traversing this road 
were not uncommon, and it was here, on October 5th 
1918, that a member of Thirty-three won his cita- 
tion for the Distinguished Service Cross. Edward 
D. Haskew was driving back with a load of wounded, 
when a shell burst on the road near his ambulance 
and spattered the car with shrapnel. Sergeant Cole, 
of the 28th Ambulance Company, who was riding 
the step, was instantly killed; Haskew, the driver, 
was wounded by shrapnel in a dozen places on the 
legs and body, and his aide, William C. Christensen, 
was seriously wounded in the foot. In spite of the 
pain and great loss of blood, Haskew remained be- 
hind his wheel and brought his ambulance success- 
fully to a protected place where both he and his pa- 
tients could be attended. A general officer had wit- 
nessed the incident and his approval of the citation 
was obtained. 

Another member of the Company had a miracu- 
lous escape from serious injury or death when, while 
he was unloading his ambulance at a Field Hospital, 
a shell landed nearby and demolished a French am- 
bulance. A piece of the shrapnel whizzed past this 
man, clipping the cuffs of both his gauntlets; an- 
other small piece of shrapnel lodged in the calf of 
one of his legs, but he remained on duty. 

During this time the Company maintained all of 
its ambulances in running order, excepting the one 
driven by Haskew, which was temporarily out of 
commission. 

On October 13th the Company moved back to 
Bethincourt, where it remained until October 18th, 
when it marched back to Sivry-la-Perche. 

On October 23rd, after twenty-eight consecutive 
days of action, the Fourth Division was relieved, and 



Thirty-three moved by truck to a camp outside the 
town of Vignot, near the City of Commercy. Dur- 
ing the drive the twelve cars of the Company had 
cared for one thousand and twelve sitting and four 
hundred and twenty-four litter patients, besides 
other cases which did not get into the records. 

Although nominally out of action, the Company 
really was represented on the front up to the time 
the Armistice was signed, because of the fact that 
the Fourth Artillery Brigade stayed in the Ar- 
gonne, while the Infantry was moved into the re- 
serve in preparation for an attack on Metz which 
was scheduled but not made, as the cessation of hos- 
tilities came too quickly. 

Thus Thirty-three had participated in every im- 
portant action of the A. E. F., from the first day of 
July until the 11th of November, doing its little part 
in the big show with characteristic thoroughness. 

PEACE 

|HILE the Company was located at Vignot, 
the leave area system was instituted and 
about half the Company was treated to a 
trip to Le Mont Dore or Grenoble at the 
expense of the Government. Here the men were 
quartered and fed at the finest hotels and the 
Y. M. C. A. entertained them at both places 
in a manner which was calculated to please the most 
exacting of the soldiers. It was a decided reaction 
to be transported suddenly from the war torn area 
about Verdun to the peace and beauty of south cen- 
tral France with its picturesque scenery and build- 
ings intact. 

It was while some of these men were absent that 
the Armistice was signed, and the festivities were 




exciting, to say the least. The French people were 
in a delirium of joy at the cessation of hostilities; 
they lay in wait for the Americans and carried them 
down the streets, or pursued them through the 
towns and showered them with those flattering little 
attentions which left very little doubt in the minds 
of our men as to "who won the war." 

After complete re-equipment at Vignot and Ville- 
Issey, where the Company moved on November 2nd, 
the march into Germany was begun on November 
20th; on that night the Company bivouaced at Bou- 
conville; on the 21st the march was resumed and 
stops made for night encampment as follows: 

November 21st, St. Benoit ; November 22nd, Pux- 
ieux; at this place a glimpse was afl'orded of the 
complicated organization which had been in vogue 
behind the German lines in this, the old St. Mihiel 
salient. It was an important headquarters town 
with a maze of communication wires, a complete 
ordnance repair shop, a supply depot for signal ma- 
terials and warehouses, stables, kitchens and billets. 
Souvenirs were everywhere and the Company, being 
among the first to traverse the territory, reaped its 
fair share. On November 23rd, Moineville; on No- 
vember 24th the Company hiked out of France and 
made the night halt at Ueckingen, in Lorraine. Here 
Thanksgiving dinner, consisting of bully beef, toma- 
toes and bread, was eaten with sufficient gratitude 
by all concerned. On December 2nd the hike was 
resumed, with halts as follows: 

December 2nd, Kattenhof en, Lorraine ; December 
3rd, across a corner of Luxembourg to Sinz, Ger- 
many; December 4th, Irsch; December 5th, Hin- 
tern; December 6th, Riol; December 7th, Lieser on 
the Moselie River, where a stop was made for a cou- 
ple of days. On December 9th the march began 



again, carrying the Company through the city of 
Bernkastel and up over the mountains to Hinzerath ; 
the next night was spent in Sohren. From this point 
heavy rains set in and the travelling was disagree- 
able until the end of the hike. On December 14th 
the Company moved to Treis, on the Moselle, and 
the next day brought it to its destination at Lutzer- 
ath, in the Eifel section of the Moselle River coun- 
try, eight milef) from a railroad and high up among 
the hills bordering the Moselle valley. During the 
entire march, the evacuation of the Division's sick 
was maintained, and it was with an agreeable sense 
of being off duty that the Company settled down in 
Lutzerath for an indefinite stay. 

When the German Army had cleared the Coblenz 
bridgehead, the Second Battalion, Thirty-ninth In- 
fantry, Fourth Division, was picked from the entire 
Army for the distinguished honor of being the first 
American outfit to reach the Rhine. Thirty-three's 
ambulance No. U. S. 73690 accompanied this bat- 
talion and took part in the dramatic entrance of the 
Thirty-ninth into the Rhineland stronghold. 

THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION 

UCH has been said and much will be writ- 
ten concerning the estimation of the Ger- 
man people by the American men who 
were fortunate enough to be designa- 
ted for service in the Army of Occupation. In 
the period of sharp mental and physical reaction 
immediately succeeding the signing of the Armistice, 
it is possible that the men themselves were in a pe- 
culiarly receptive state and that there was good 
ground for the Germans to work on if it was, as has 
been said, their policy to adopt a conciliatory man- 
ner toward the American Army. Of course it must 




also be remembered that our men saw nothing of 
industrial Germany, but only a very small section of 
farming country, where the real pinch of the hard- 
ships of war had been lightly felt. 

The people of Lutzerath were sturdy farming folk, 
devoted to their simple family and village life and 
to the cultivation of the soil. When the food levies 
were made by the German Government during the 
war, it seems that they had always succeeded in 
holding back enough of their produce to insure them 
against starvation. Consequently, the evidence of 
a stafveri, emaciated populace was lacking. The na- 
tives did contend that their defeat was not due to 
the force of arms, but to the fact that the food 
situation was so critical that the army could not be 
maintained at the front. 

The Company was billeted out in spare rooms and 
lofts of the peasants, and the order was that fra- 
ternizing was strictly tabooed. Just what was meant 
by fraternizing is not yet clear to most of the men. 
They lived on intimate terms with the inhabitants 
and even made friends with some of the people of the 
village. Moselle wine differs a little from the vin 
ordinaire of France, and the language of the Rhine- 
land had its difficulties; but it may be stated as a 
general rule that Thirty-three was Thirty-three 
whether in France or Germany, and that the com- 
mon people are very much the same all over the 
world. So, for the purposes of the mere occupation 
of Lutzerath, the association of the soldiers with the 
civilians was on terms of almost absolute con- 
geniality. 

During the hike at Ueckingen, the Company had 
obtained an unofficial recruit in an unexpected man- 
ner. A youth was standing looking longingly at the 
mess line and one of the kitchen police invited him 



to eat. He did so with a relish for corned willie that 
astounded the most hardened soldier of the lot. He 
managed to explain that he was a native of Luxem- 
bourg City, and that he had been interned in Lor- 
raine when the war broke out. When urged to join 
the German army he had refused, on the ground 
that his country was neutral; he was therefore put 
in prison, from which he was released after the Ar- 
mistice was signed. As he had no money he was 
drifting about the country when Thirty-three an- 
nexed him and took him up to Lutzerath. Here a 
collection was taken among the men and Joe Sal- 
vage, as he had been dubbed, clad in American 0. D., 
was sent back to his own city; he was sorry to go, 
as he had wanted to stay with the Company and 
come to America. 

Lutzerath was located about seven kilometers from 
Bad Bertrich, a famous mineral bath resort. On 
certain days, it was permissible for the men to go 
down and indulge in a bath — another incongruity of 
the war, which placed the average doughboy in the 
haunts of the most exclusive of travellers before the 
war. 

The work consisted of just enough drilling and 
hiking to keep the men fit, and the necessary guard 
and detail duties were about the only responsibility 
that they had. A wirtschaft, presided over by one 
Ludwig Berg and his pretty daughter, Lena, was the 
most popular place in town, and it is feared that 
Herr Berg received almost the exclusive patron- 
age of the soldiers among the tradesmen. House- 
parties also were much in vogue and at inter- 
vals each billet held forth in its favorite form of 
amusement until the hard-hearted officer of the day 
came around and commanded that lights be put out. 
Thus the winter passed in such feasting and revelry 



as the town afforded, and the little German children 
were initiated into the mysteries of snow fights and 
other antics of the American troops. 

On Christmas Eve there was a jovial gathering in 
the town hall for an entertainment, and Thirty- 
three, of course, furnished the bulk of the program. 
After the entertainment the men went silently back 
to their billets, where a peculiar German custom 
gave them a touch of Christmas at home. The Kris 
Kinder, three children in the guise of angels, go 
about from house to house with a lantern, and the 
Christmas carols are sung. It is not on record that 
the Kris Kinder of Lutzerath were even jested with 
by the "brutal Americans" on the evening of Decem- 
ber 24th 1918, when they made their rounds. 

A holdup in the mail for some days had deprived 
the men of news from home, and the outlook on 
Christmas morning was quite gloomy. But the af- 
ternoon brought a large assortment of letters and 
Christmas packages for our town, and the day which 
had begun so inauspiciously ended in good style, 
after a hearty dinner topped off with an impromptu 
entertainment, with the mail afterwards. 

About midwinter, a post school was organized in 
each town in the occupied area where American 
troops were quartered. The Lutzerath school was 
considered by army authorities to be a model of its 
kind. The faculty, composed almost entirely of 
Thirty-three men, conducted classes in a wide varie- 
ty of both elementary and advanced subjects; and 
the sight of each youthful instructor, clad in sim- 
ple 0. D. and surrounded by his tiny, eager group of 
pupils, was another insight into the remarkable ver- 
satility of the enlisted personnel of the Company. 

The Christmas Eve entertainment had been so 
well received that later, when an order was issued 



authorizing the formation of troops of players to 
tour the occupied territory, Thirty-three organized 
an entire program, including a "jazz" orchestra. 
This show was very nearly unique as the program, 
while containing the conventional stuff of which 
most soldier shows were composed, was so ex- 
cellently balanced with material of a finer sort that 
it was decidedly successful during its entire run, 
during which it played to doughboy audiences 
in improvised theatres in the smallest villages, and 
to considerable gatherings including many high offi- 
cers and war workers in the larger towns. The 
players travelled during the entire winter, over a 
large part of the Third Army area. Their transpor- 
tation was a matter of uncertainty; ambulances one 
day, trucks the next and machine gun wagons 
another time. And as their schedule kept them on 
the road at all hours, irregular meals and frigid 
sleeping quarters made their tour anything but a 
pleasure excursion to the men who took part in this 
work. In this manner practically the entire Army 
of Occupation was made acquainted with the talents 
of Thirty-three, whose show was received with en- 
thusiasm everywhere it went. 

When spring turned the neighboring hilltops 
green, and everybody was looking forward with that 
despairing uncertainty to the time when we should 
be coming home, the Company was moved to Lan- 
tershofen, near the Ahr River, a short distance 
from the Rhine. The 42nd Division had gone home 
and the Fourth was designated to take over its area. 
This looked hopeless and it was with a sinking heart 
that the men went up to their new area, leaving the 
people of Lutzerath with honest regret at the ter- 
mination of their five months' association. 



But with the change of scene came new associa- 
tions, and the Company was soon comfortably es- 
tablished at Lantershofen, which was only about a 
mile from Bad Neuenahr, another famous bath re- 
sort, on the outskirts of which is located the spring 
producing the well known Apollinaris Water. 

Although the Apollinaris bottling factory was 
shut down, the spring house was open and the sol- 
diers made prodigal use of the water. Trucks, wag- 
ons and motor cars were washed with "Apollinaris," 
an expensive luxury at home, but just water to the 
conquering army. 

A slight relief from the general tension was felt 
when certain areas were set aside as athletic fields, 
and baseball diamonds were constructed. Teams 
were organized and rooters turned out to support 
their own men and forget for a few hours the gnaw- 
ing question, "When are we going home?" A lib- 
eral allotment of passes to France, Belgium, the 
British Isles and Italy also helped in this respect, and 
the men took advantage of this opportunity to really 
see the countries through which they had passed. 

In February, an opportunity was afforded such of 
the men as possessed the necessary qualifications, to 
attend universities in France and England; about 
fifteen men from Thirty-three took advantage of 
this and most of the men in question rejoined the 
Company at Brest on the way home. 

During the winter the Company had sustained a 
loss when Captain Harry H. Wilson, its Commanding 
Officer, was sent back, sick, to a hospital; and from 
there was evacuated to the coast and home. The af- 
fectionate interest of Captain Wilson for every man 
in the Company had placed him very high in the 
estimation of the men, and it was with genuine re- 
gret that his departure was seen. Captain May- 



nard G. Bensley succeeded Captain Wilson as Com- 
manding Officer; he had occupied this post before 
during the illness of the Commanding Officer, and 
he was now the only one of the original four officers 
of the Company left. Later, upon the injury 
and discharge of Major A. J. McCarey, Director of 
Ambulance Companies, Captain Bensley became 
Director of Ambulance Companies and Lieutenant 
Lawrence B. Hatch Commanding Officer of Thirty- 
three. A short time afterwards, on the transfer of 
Lieutenant Hatch to another Company, Captain 
William T. May succeeded him and retained com- 
mand until the disbanding of Thirty-three at Camp 
Dix. 

As Thirty-three, from one cause or another, had 
sustained losses aggregating roughly fifty per cent 
of its original strength, it had received replacements 
from time to time to cover these losses. It is inter- 
esting to note that these men, coming into the Com- 
pany, were quickly caught by the spirit of old But- 
ler and that they soon acquired a pride of organiza- 
tion which was really remarkable. Each man was 
received into the ranks of Thirty-three for what he 
was and each man occupied a definite place in the 
Company which belonged to him and to nobody else. 
From the first replacements at Camp Greene, desig- 
nated to fill the places of those who had joined other 
organizations, down to the last man who was as- 
signed in Germany, the keen sense of appreciation 
of the esprit de corps of the Company seemed in 
them all. And the original personnel, as it dwindled 
down to half strength, seemed to be more thorough- 
ly sensible of the true perspective than ever before. 

As the A. E. F. became less numerous, due to the 
return home of the bulk of the troops overseas, the 
Fourth Division was assigned to more and still more 



territory until, in the early summer, it was strung 
out in detachments of various sizes all the way from 
Bonn on the Rhine to Coblenz at the confluence of 
the Moselle and the Rhine, thence along the Moselle 
valley almost to Luxembourg City. Other detach- 
ments were located along the valley of the Ahr 
from Remagen back into Luxembourg, and some of 
the infantry went to occupy a railhead in Belgium. 
Therefore, as the Ambulance Companies were still 
responsible for the evacuation of the Division's sick. 
Thirty-three saw practically all the area in occupied 
territory, and there is little of interest in either the 
battle areas of the western front or the country on 
the German side of the lines that escaped their at- 
tention. 

The summer of 1919 gave promise of being an ex- 
tremely favorable one for the farmers of the Rhine- 
land, and the condition of the crops was excellent. 
In the beautiful Rhine valley, grain fields and pota- 
toes flourished wonderfully and the hillside vine- 
yards, cultivated with such slow, difficult, painstak- 
ing care, entirely by hand, were a marvel to the 
American troops. The enterprizing peasants took 
advantage of the sale of surplus animals by the 
Third Army and it was not uncommon, though cer- 
tainly somewhat startling at first, to see a rough- 
looking American Army horse or mule, hooked side 
by side with the family ox or cow, peaceably doing 
his bit for the Vaterland. 

When there seemed to be some doubt as to 
whether the German Government would sign the 
peace terms imposed by the Council at Versailles, 
the bustle of preparation for an advance across the 
Rhine was apparent everywhere. The Fourth Divi- 
sion, expecting to return home, had turned in all of 
its, combat equipment, and this had to be issued 



again to the troops. Artillery, machine gun car- 
riages, wagon trains and truck and supply convoys 
rumbled through the little Rhine villages, and the 
people wore a troubled look as they saw this display 
of mobile power on the part of the Army of Occupa- 
tion. But when it was known that the Government 
had signed, the warcloud dispersed as quickly as it 
had gathered and the men returned to billets, the 
horses to their pickets and the motors to their parks 
again. 

After a false alarm early in June the orders which 
authorized the homecoming of the Fourth Division, 
including Ambulance Company No. 33, were re- 
ceived early in July and it was indeed a glorious 
4th that was spent on German territory. A 
quantity of signal rockets, flares and other fire- 
works had been obtained by the various regiments 
and companies, and the natives must have believed 
that the Americans intended to blow up their towns. 
On the morning of the 4th there were ceremo- 
nies in all organizations ; in the afternoon there were 
ball games; and the day wound up with an assort- 
ment of fireworks leaping skyward from the house- 
tops of all the neighboring towns and villages. 

On July 14th the Company marched from Lan- 
tershofen to Bad Neuenahr, where it entrained in 
large American box cars for the journey to the 
coast. The trip was by way of Cologne, near which 
place a last glimpse of the Rhine was obtained; 
thence down through Liege, Namur, Charleroi, 
Mons, Valenciennes, Douai, Arras, Albert, Amiens, 
Neuchatel and other famous towns of the Flanders 
front, crossing the Somme en route and getting just 
a glimpse of Vimy Ridge. The devastation of this 
whole area was unspeakable and this last impression 
of the war will linger with the men as long as mem- 



ory lasts. On July 17th billets were assigned in 
Camp Pontenezan, at Brest, and in the following 
days the men were deloused, re-equipped and enter- 
tained to their hearts' content. 

On July 23rd 1919, the Company boarded the 
United States Transport "Minnesotan" and settled 
down to blissful contemplation of the joys of their 
journey home. 

The voyage was uneventful. The weather was 
ideal, with sunny days and balmy, moonlit nights 
calculated to induce visions of the New Jersey coast 
as it must be in weather like that. On the morning 
of August 3rd land was sighted and the Minnesotan 
docked at Philadelphia that afternoon. 

At the pier the Salvation Army took telegrams 
and sent them home free of charge. The Red Cross 
likewise was on hand and served coffee, cake and ice 
cream. The other welfare organizations literally 
swamped the men with candy, tobacco, cigarettes 
and matches, and there was a roar of satisfaction 
as the troop trains pulled out for Camp Dix, where 
they arrived that evening. 

After searching inspections to insure that no dis- 
ease, vermin or contraband existed among the men, 
the Company was discharged from the United 
States Army at about noon on August 6th 1919. 
Outside the gate where the men were released, Thir- 
ty-three, for the last time in 0. D., fell on each 
other's neck and took a hurried but nevertheless 
fond farewell of its old associates. In a few minutes 
the last of the men had gone and the Company was 
only a memory of the past. 

Thus ended the career of Ambulance Company 
Thirty-three, in many respects the most remarkable 
body of men ever assembled. Their work in the 
World War was done, and done in a manner deeply 




satisfactory to them all. They were now dispersed, 
hurrying to their homes, to carry back to civilian 
life the memory of — what? 



RETROSPECT 

I HE summing up of two years of such in- 
tense activity as was that of Thirty-three 
during its short life is a rather difficult 
matter. For the purposes of this history 
it is doubtful if such a resume is desirable. But it 
is believed that the subject should not be abandoned 
without due mention of the deep appreciation which 
each man must feel toward all those who were inter- 
ested in the Company and who did not have the good 
fortune to accompany it on its travels, but who nev- 
ertheless gave with utter unselfishness of their time, 
their money and their physical and moral support in 
every phase of the activity of Thirty-three. 

In looking back over the past there are certain 
outstanding features which are indelible in the 
memories of most of the men ; and there are also 
those thousand little individual reminiscences which 
cannot be set down here. 

The recollection of the early days at Summit and 
Butler, when there was no ulterior motive in the 
mind of any of us, but only a purely patriotic ideal 
of service to our country, will be always the most 
pleasant and satisfactory part of our contemplation 
of the whole record. 

The troublous times at Syracuse, Allentown and 
Charlotte, while fraught with much that is un- 
pleasant to recall, were nevertheless full of other 
activities which were calculated to uphold and 
strengthen the morale of the men. 



And the memory of our trip through the submar- 
ine-infested waters of the north Atlantic in the 
spring of 1918; of our ghmpse of England; of the 
preparation for active participation in the war; of 
terrible days and hideous nights amid the sights and 
sounds of the actual battle front ; of the tremendous 
reaction when it was all over; of the awful monot- 
ony of interminable months in the Army of Occu- 
pation ; and of the unaccountable feeling of indiffer- 
ence on our return to do the ordinary things again ; 
all this will live with us individually as long as our 
own lives shall last. And the wholesome camara- 
derie developed by all these experiences should make 
for a spirit of clean co-operation in anything that 
the Company collectively may undertake in its civil- 
ian life. 

An incident lingers in the memory which consti- 
tutes the only recognition, official or otherwise, that 
has been accorded to the gallant old Fourth Division 
in compensation for its heroic service in the great 
war. 

In the largest area assigned to any Division in 
the Army of Occupation, an irregularly shaped ter- 
ritory of some seven hundred square miles, the 
Fourth Division was scattered during the winter of 
1918-1919. The date of March 18th 1919, had been 
set for a review and the pi'esentation of about one 
hundred decorations to be awarded to the men of 
the Division for individual valor; it is believed that 
this is the smallest number of decorations awarded 
to an American combat division and it is on record 
that the Commander-in-Chief requested that the 
records of the Division be looked over in order to as- 
certain if there were other cases which, on account 
of the high standard set by the Division, might 
have been overlooked. But the Fourth stood pat and 



did not mar its reputation for courageous modesty 
by recommending additional awards at that time. 

On March 17th, the Division was assembled at 
the designated place, and it was necessary for some 
of the organizations to hike about fifty miles to the 
rendezvous. In spite of the fact that they had to 
camp for two nights in the snow-covered woods of 
the vicinity, the appearance of the men at the in- 
spection was immaculate. 

On a large plateau, eight hundred feet above the 
Moselle valley, on the morning of March 18th, the 
Division was assembled for the inspection. The in- 
fantry was massed in the center of the field, in front 
of a high reviewing platform which had been erec- 
ted. The artillery, with complete equipment and 
personnel, was formed on the left, and the machine 
gun battalions and divisional trains on the right. 
The massed bands of the Division took up their 
position at the reviewing stand. 

Shortly after noon the Commander-in-Chief ar- 
rived. The inspection proceeded rapidly and with 
enthusiastic comment from the General on the 
splendid appearance of the men, animals, transpor- 
tation and armament of the Division. The General, 
followed by his escort, rode to the reviewing stand 
and took his position, on the ground, for the presen- 
tation of the decorations. The beautiful ceremony 
of the massing of the colors then followed and the 
medals and crosses were awarded. As the entire 
afternoon had been occupied by these proceedings, 
the hour of Retreat found the Division still in the 
open field. As the huge mass of twenty-eight thou- 
sand men stood at Attention, the combined bands 
played "The Star-Spangled Banner" ; in the wild at- 
mosphere of that upland plateau, the nature of the 
ceremony was almost religious. 



The General and his staff then went to the 
reviewing platform, high above the field, and the 
entire formation broke into movement when the 
band struck up a military march. In column of bat- 
talions, headed by their staffs and with standards 
and colors unfurled, the regiments swung past the 
tall, soldierly figure standing a little apart on the 
platform. The wonderful rhythm and power of the 
marching troops was an inspiring sight; and the 
monotonous brown of the men's uniforms was re- 
lieved by vivid color as the fluttering standards went 
by and the last rays of the setting sun tinged the 
fixed bayonets with scarlet. In a little while it was 
finished ; the troops had marched away over a neigh- 
boring hill, the beating of the drums was a mere 



throb in the distance and nothing remained except 
the empty platform, standing alone above the tram- 
pled mud of the plateau. 

This review, without other witnesses than the 
few German peasants who braved the biting winds 
of that March afternoon to stand and gaze, was the 
first, last and only parade of the "Forgotten Fourth". 
And yet the men themselves would not have it oth- 
erwise ; for, to those who witnessed it, the very sim- 
plicity and modesty of the ceremony sets it apart and 
places it in keeping with the silent, hard-fighting, 
glorious record of the Fourth Division of the Regu- 
lar Army; a record which acknowledges itself to be 
second to none. 



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